A Living Lie
by Pencyke
Summary: Ryuto Shota is Naruto's secret identity. It started as a lie he came up with to avoid the villager's hateful stares. Now, it's more his life than anything else. The only question is, how long until his cover's blown? Semi-Strong Naruto, Serious Naruto, Smart Naruto. Rating just in case of future language slips among other things.
1. Chapter 1

Hi ev'ryboty!

This is a new story that I just got the idea for and I'm kinda just lookin' to see where it'll go.

I hope you like it, updates'll be irregular, and I have an afro. not particularly in that order.

Let's get this party started!

* * *

An aspiring ninja proudly strutted into the testing room, confident that he'd finally pass the final exam. After all, third time's the charm. The boy could hear the worried mutterings of his friends back in the classroom, well, they weren't really his friends as much as he spent most of his time in school around them. He hadn't ever felt comfortable with his spot among them mostly because he didn't feel like he was truly apart of the group. Maybe it was because he wasn't truly there to begin with.

He could hear the worried mutterings of the group even as he made his way out of the door and he silently berated himself for allowing their underestimation of his abilities to rile him up. They didn't know that he knew quite a bit of techniques he had no business knowing, nor did they know that he trained himself relentlessly when not in school or performing illicit actions. And yet he still held doubt in his heart. It was true that he couldn't perform a normal bunshin no matter how much he had refined his chakra control. That was okay though, he had it all planned out. He'd already aced the shuriken and kunai test, a perfect score even. In the taijutsu test he'd even managed to just barely score above average which was amazing in and of itself seeing as his taijutsu consisted of the academy techniques and any sort of half-baked idea he managed to come up with on his own. He'd scored only slightly below that for the genjutsu detection, that one was a given considering that he had to on the look out for anyone trying to dispel his henge. The boy knew he hadn't done well with the written test but he absolutely refused to bother with anything that wasn't going to be useful in any respect relative to his own survival. Really, how could they expect anyone to actually take those lessons on the history of the ninja world wars seriously when they were portraid with sock puppets? The boy had some respect for Iruka but not that much.

They had called him by the name that wasn't his and it reminded him of the circumstances of how it came to be that even when surrounded by friendly faces he hid his true self in every sense of the word.

* * *

 _A boy could be seen wandering between the trees if anyone had been there to look. He was looking for a quiet place to rest, out of sight of the villager's piercing glares and hateful mutterings. He fell asleep quickly under the cover of the bushes and the boy wandered around the realm of dreams. He was awakened from his pleasant dreams to the sound of people moving about nearby. The boy sprung into action quickly, rubbing dirt into his hair and clothes as quietly as possible for his young body, afterwards crouching stock still in the bush he was in. As luck would have it, it happened to be a couple of academy students come for a late night tutoring session. The dirt smeared blond stared at the two in wonder from his hiding place as one broke down how to do a jutsu and the concepts behind it. It was something called henge, and though the boy didn't completely understand what the jutsu did yet he listened intently and he learned._

 _Later that night, long after the two academy students were gone Naruto could be seen practicing in the bushes if anyone were there to see him. As the sun just began to creep above the edge of the horizon Naruto could no longer be seen standing among the trees and in his place was the boy he had fabricated to live in his place. Short brown hair, a bland face, and casual clothes all nondescript in design and color. Young as he was, the boy knew that if he gave out his own name in this form then the jig would be up before it even started, so he racked his brain for anything to call himself and for a while nothing came. And then he remembered actually reading a name somewhere, of coarse the boy didn't remember where but he wanted a name, not a place. His mind made up, the boy moved to see if anyone recognized him._

 _When the disguised Naruto walked into the door of the orphanage they asked who he was. Looking up at the adults with a beaten look the boy said his name._

* * *

"Ryuto Shota, I am sorry to say this but I have to fail you." Ryuto's face was a stunned mask, he didn't know what to say. He'd tried so hard, he'd studied day and night, he trained nonstop. Sure it was difficult keeping up his henge all the time but he'd been dutiful in his work to become a ninja as he'd found a way to make the illusion more than skin deep so that it wouldn't come off even if he was struck. Surprisingly the white haired teacher, Mizuki, spoke up, "Hey, c'mon Iruka. The boy can substitute on a dime and his henge is impeccable. I don't know about you but I think those skills are more important to survival out in the field than being able to make it seem like there are more of you than there are. Why don't we let the boy pass, it's his third try." Ryuto perked up in hope that Mizuki's prodding would be enough to sway the strict teacher's decision. It wasn't. "Look Mizuki, I understand if you think that the boy is ready for combat but I can't let someone be a ninja without being able to create even a single decent bunshin. I might've been able to overlook it if the darn thing could just walk on it's own two feet but I can't even do that. No, I'm sorry Mizuki, but my decision is final."

Ryuto nodded sedately and mumbled an absent thanks to Mizuki as he trudged out his head hung low. The rest of the day was just a blur for the boy, he felt lost. His heart was dead set on becoming a ninja, but if he wasn't accepted as a genin by the village then he'd have no one to teach him and he knew there was only so far you could go eavesdropping on other peoples lessons while also trying not to get caught.

At the end of the day Naruto found himself laying on a wayward roof trying to figure things out in his head. He heard the thump of someone landing next to him and before he could look to see who it was he heard the voice of Mizuki, "Is this seat taken?" The boy shook his head, as he stared up at the sky, "Hey, I just wanted to apologize for Iruka back then, I know he can be a bit hard on you even when you don't deserve it." Ryuto shook his head and looked over at his teacher, "Uh, n-no you don't have to apologize, I just appreciate you sticking out for me like you did. Even though you didn't have to." Now it was Mizuki's turn to look at his student, "I know that it can be good to be humble but have some confidence, will ya? I honestly think you deserve to be a ninja, which is why I suggest you take the back up test." On the inside Naruto narrowed his eyes at the special treatment but on the outside Ryuto was curious, "Back up test? I've never heard of such a miracle." Mizuki chuckled a bit, "It's only for special cases, but enough of that. Would you like to take the back up test?" Ryuto nodded enthusiastically, "Okay, so here's what you need to do..."

* * *

Later that night Ryuto stole the forbidden scroll from the Hokage's office. The old geezer had almost recognized Naruto for who he really was when he saw the young boy dragging that huge scroll out of his office, so in an effort to maintain his disguise and still pass the test the boy used his sexy jutsu against the Third Hokage and made his escape before anyone else tried to stop him.

A few hours later and Naruto could be seen in the guise of Ryuto, catching his breath while leaning on the forbidden scroll for support. This time though there was someone to see the boy and he revealed himself to be a furious Iruka, "Ryuto! Return the scroll to the leaf village! Otherwise I won't be able to guarantee your safety!" The boy blinked at his scarred teacher in confusion, "Hey? Iruka? Is the test over? I learned a jutsu from the scroll and everything! That means your gonna pass me right?" It killed Naruto to play stupid like this but you gotta do what you gotta do, "Ryuto? What do you mean?" Naruto swallowed a bit more of his pride, "Mizuki told me about the super secret back up test that I could take! Isn't that great! Now I can be a ninja!" Iruka seemed to finally get it that Mizuki had 'Manipulated Ryuto' into stealing the forbidden scroll. Suddenly his demeanor changed and he practically spat out his fellow teacher's name, "Mizuki."

Ryuto turned and looked at the white haired academy teacher twirling a giant shurikan in preparation of throwing it, "Oh Iruka, it seems like you beat me here. Oh whatever shall I do? Maybe... I'll kill you both!" As the giant shuriken shot at the two, promising to be painful if it hit, Ryuto latched onto his teacher and performed a substitution at the last moment. Now under sufficient cover Naruto feigned distress, "What? Why is Mizuki-sensei trying to k-kill us?!" Iruka pushed Ryuto away from him and said, "Run Ryuto! That scroll contains the darkest of Konoha's secrets! If it were to fall into the hands of one of the other hidden villages and it could spell out the end of the leaf village! I need you to protect that scroll, Ryuto! Keep it out of Mizuki's hands!" With that lengthy speech done and over with, Ryuto took to the trees in his attempt to protect the scroll.

Soon Iruka caught up to Ryuto and asked for the scroll, "Nice try, Mizuki."

"How did you know I wasn't the real Iruka?"

"Because I am the real Iruka!"

"It doesn't matter. Your seriously wounded, I only have to slit your throat and it'll be nothing to catch that stupid brat after."

It was at that point that Naruto felt he had to do something, he quickly formed some seals and smoke filled the clearing. When the smoke cleared away Ryuto was standing protectively in front of Iruka. Mizuki sneered at the boy's insolence and Ryuto yelled out at the top of his lungs, "I wont let you hurt Iruka sensei!" The white haired teacher turned traitor opened his mouth to crush the boy's spirit when a large rock crashed into Mizuki's head, braking into lot's of tiny pieces. Mizuki lifted his dazed head to see what had dropped on him but instead was faced with an insurmountable amount of Ryuto's descending upon him in rage. As the solid clones took care of the traitor, Naruto cursed himself for having to stay in character as he forced tears to his face and tried to dress Iruka's wounds. Luckily they weren't life threatening, though it was some pretty serious damage considering.

It seemed Iruka was having trouble believing that Ryuto had actually pulled off the shadow clone technique let alone with such numbers. After they all dispersed and Ryuto was dragging an unconscious MIzuki and bleeding Iruka back into town the boy was actually starting to feel some semblance of fatigue. Naruto fought to stay conscious, however because he was worried about his illusion coming undone. Right before Ryuto left them in front of the hospital Iruka handed the boy his own headband with parting words of, "You earned it."

Ryuto nodded absently as he waved over the nurses from the hospital and gave them a brief rundown of how they were injured. Finally making sure that the nurses knew to keep Mizuki restrained he hefted the forbidden scroll over his shoulder and hurriedly made the long trek back to the Hokage tower. Not wanting to explain, Naruto used his chakra to climb up to the window leading up to the Hokage's window, but when he opened the glass pane he was face to face with the most powerful man in the village, "Uh, I brought back the scroll." The old man nodded, "I saw." Ryuto scratched the back of his head nervously, "Uh, Iruka gave me his head band." The Hokage nodded again, "I saw." Now Naruto was getting a bit worried. The old geezer hadn't stopped staring into his eyes, "Uh, that means I can still be a ninja right?" He nodded once more, "Of coarse." Ryuto sighed at that, "Oh man, that's a relief." With a tired wave and a parting smile Ryuto turned to leave the way he came when the Hokage said something that made the boy sweat, "I'm impressed by your disguise, Naruto." Ryuto didn't look back, though he got the feeling that things were probably going to get complicated.

* * *

Ryuto could be seen coming out of his apartment door before the sun had even risen above the horizon. He sighed to himself, "I've got things to do, might as well get an early start." The boy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he stuck a few leaves to his forehead and started on his first lap around the village. He let his mind wander as the villagers started on their daily routines. They all smiled pleasantly at him without a care in the world, on the inside Naruto sneered at them. With the him it was like night and day with the villagers and it sickened him how obvious it was. As himself, Naruto would've been the subject of hateful glares and conspiring whispers from the moment he stepped out of the door. As Ryuto they looked proudly at him as if they had raised him themselves. It really was ridiculous.

The hokage had given 'Ryuto' his own apartment as soon as he'd been officially accepted into the ninja academy. By that time he already knew a few different jutsu from spying on different ninja in training while disguised as an animal. He'd gained such a mastery over his henge jutsu to where the transformation was actually physical. He'd hadn't a choice.

Ryuto Shota had been a class clown since the first day in the academy, someone no one would suspect to have anything to hide. He never wrote anything down, he never had to, his memory had turned out to be photographic. Even so, to keep up the illusion of stupidity he flunked as many tests as he possibly could and got the lowest grades that he could still pass with. In class he often feigned sleep while filing away the information for later. As a result all of his so called friends in the academy were more of the trickster/misfit types. He'd prefer those types over the normal people who would change how they treat a guy at the drop of a hat.

As the disguised boy finished another lap he suddenly increased his pace. Fingers formed into a cross-shaped seal and another Ryuto poofed into existence beside him, "Okay Ryuto you ready for a race?" The clone nodded while making sure the leaves on it's forehead didn't fall off, "Then let's go!" They both ran full tilt, and were unsurprisingly matched but as the boy worked to outdo himself so to did his clone push himself past his limits. The original won by just a hair and after both Ryuto's were bent over trying to catch their breath, "Man, it sure does take a lot of chakra to make you. And you're completely solid too." The clone pulled at his cheek and shrugged, "Don't ask me about it, I'm you!"

Not long after Ryuto had ended his morning training session and returned home for a shower before he left the sanctuary of his home once more. While the unremarkable boy wasn't particularly punctual, he didn't want to be late for his upcoming appointment with the photographer who'd be taking his picture as an official ninja. He didn't even bother with the streets, already they were packed like a crushed tin can of sardines, so instead the boy could be seen hopping along the roofs of the various buildings with minimal effort.

Just as the photo booth was entering his line of sight, Naruto heard a shrill cry of distress. Quickly locating the source of the disturbance, the boy thought for only a moment before he disappeared in a whirl of leaves. Down below, a pink haired girl was cornered in an alley, surrounded by lecherous old men, their crooked smiles causing a shiver to run up her spine. Not wanting to see what was to happen next, the girl squeezed her eyes shut and screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping beyond hope that her beloved Sasuke might hear her calling for him and rush to her defense. She didn't hear anything, the men had stopped their creepy giggling. _What happened?_ The girl thought to herself. Ever so slowly she cracked her eye open, afraid of what she might see. Then they flew open in shock.

In front of her stood a boy that the pink haired girl could have sworn was in her class back at the academy, then she noticed the men who'd been harassing her lying unconscious on the ground around the boy. She was shocked to say the least, _T-the dead last came to save me?_ Unwilling to accept that it was the boy who hadn't even been able to graduate who had saved her, the girl turned her attention to other matters, "H-hey, didn't you fail the graduation test?" Naruto groaned to himself, _Really? I save her hide and the only thing she can do is point out my shortcomings?_ The boy crossed his arms in annoyance, "Yeah, so?" The pink haired girl poked a shaky finger at the slightly worn headband hanging from his slightly tanned looking neck, "Then how come you're wearing that? It's a crime to impersonate a ninja you know."

Ryuto pinched his nose in annoyance, _I don't have time for this._ With a sigh he stared directly into the girl's sea green eyes with his own chocolaty brown ones, "I took a retake, now if you're alright I have somewhere I need to be." The girl found her savior's stare unnerving and as she refused to brake eye contact she couldn't help the feeling in her gut that something wasn't quite right about the boy. She couldn't quite place it but it just felt like he was a mystery waiting to unfold. She heard him clear his throat and the girl suddenly realized that she had latched onto his hand. Quickly, she released her grip on the boy's hand and he rolled his eyes before preparing to jump away.

Just as Ryuto was about to take off the girl surprised him with a cry of, "Wait!" The brown haired boy visibly cringed at the volume that the girl had used and she quickly apologized, "Oh, ah-sorry about that, I just don't know my own vocal chords sometimes. Heh heh..." She trailed off when the boy glared at her with a look that obviously said _What now?_ Thinking it would be wise not to waste her savior's time she rattled off as many questions as she could, "HowdidyoubeatthoseguyssofastWhereareyouheadedtoinsuchahurryInevernoticedyoubeforetheycalledyouforyourtestHaveyoualwaysbeeninmyclassandwhat'syournameanyways?" Instead of giving any sort of helpful answer he turned away dispassionately and said, "I think you should know." And then he was gone.

As Sakura stared at the spot where the average looking boy had been standing moments before she had a thought that was strange to her as she wasn't thinking it about the object of her fangirlism, _I wonder if I'll see him again._

Naruto on the other hand had one very different thought going through his head, _I hope I'm not late!_

* * *

Let me know if you want me to continue,

also it wouldn't hurt if you listed your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and hopes for the future (optional)

Peace!


	2. The second chapter

Hey everybody!

Don't worry, I'm just as surprised as you are at how fast I pumped this one out. Heh, I guess sometimes inspiration does strike the same person twice. Or is it lightning?

Eh, who cares? Let's get to the story!

* * *

After getting his picture taken, Ryuto retreated to a secluded area to really see what he could do with his new jutsu. Since the scroll he'd learned the jutsu from only had instructions on how to do the jutsu and nothing concerning what it actually did other than the half-explanatory name the boy had taken it upon himself to figure out the limitations and advantages of the shadow clone jutsu.

Currently Ryuto could be seen sitting in a meditative stance as quite a few clones of himself could also be seen sparing with each other in pairs. Suddenly with a poof one of the clones dispelled and Naruto was assaulted with the memories of the clone's short life span, _It seems that clone had been insulating himself with chakra so that when his opponent was surprised that he didn't go poof he'd be able to get in an attack of opportunity while his opponent was busy celebrating their 'victory'._ It was a simple tactic really, lull your opponent into a false sense of confidence and then strike when your opponent thinks they've got you down for the count. Ryuto sighed in thought, _Hmm, it seems that the clones dispel involuntarily when they run out of chakra. Well I guess that makes sense, most jutsu do end when they run out of chakra. But that negates the advantage of refilling his own chakra with whatever's left over from the clones when they dispel. Definitly something to keep in mind._

Ryuto nodded to himself as he shifted his focus from his thoughts and the holes in his fighting style back to his chakra control work out. It was a training regimen of his own design focusing on the improvement of his control over the flow of chakra in different parts of his body while still working to increase his strength. Currently he was focusing chakra to the tips of his fingers to stick them to the bottom of a tree branch while he simultaneously performed chin-ups. He continued like that as his clones fought each other while the sun continued on it's trek across the sky.

Finally with a poof, there was only one clone left in the clearing. He looked beaten and scratched as he fought to catch his breath but the triumphant grin on his face was impossible to miss, "So boss," The clone looked up at the original expectantly, "You ready for this?" Ryuto allowed himself a smile as he dropped down from the branch and landed next to his neatly folded shirt, "You know me, you are me. I'm always ready for a fight." As he said this his clone rushed at him, fist cocked back in preparation for a punch. As the offending fist flew forward Ryuto used his hand to brush the clone's arm out of the way as the boy whipped his head forward to bash in his clone's nose. When the boy didn't feel an impact his muscles contracted as he tucked into a barrel roll and kicked out at the clone's legs. The clone dodged but that was expected as Ryuto stood up and in a fluid movement nailed a jaw shattering uppercut into a log. Wait, a log?

Naruto narrowed his eyes but used a substitution instead of commenting, just in time as the fireball that had landed where he'd been standing a moment before died down to reveal the clone huffing and puffing even more than he was before. The boy grinned before substituting again with the now charred log and nailed the nearly depleted clone in the face with a direct hit. The clone disappeared with a satisfying 'poof' and Ryuto was alone in the clearing once more.

On the way back to his apartment the boy allowed himself a slight smile, he was pleased at how much he'd learned about the shadow clone jutsu and was already thinking about ways to implement it both with his training and in combat, _If I get to the point where I could make the cones without using the handsign then I could use it to-_ The boy was knocked out of his thoughts when he felt a pair of pale eyes glued to his back. Ryuto turned around and with a loud display pointed at the perpetrator, "Hey, if you don't come out right now I'll be forced to blow this place sky high along with myself!" The boy lifted his shirt up to reveal that it was indeed covered in explosive tags.

"W-w-wait! P-please, I d-don't want y-you to b-b-blow y-yourself up." It was a shy looking Hyuuga girl that came out from behind a lamp pole. Naruto even recognized her as one of the graduates in his class. He dropped his shirt back over his midsection with a sigh, "Oh, it's just you. Why were you watching me anyway?" _And did you use your Byakugan?_ Naruto had learned early on that the Hyuuga clan could see through pretty much anything with their special eyes, including his disguise. That was why the boy had made it a point to avoid the people with the white eyes. So why had this girl been spying on him, and doing such a mediocre job as well.

Ryuto stared intently at the shy girl. She hadn't answered his question yet, she was poking her index fingers together as she mumbled incoherently and as Ryuto took a closer look she was blushing furiously. She took a quick glance to see if he was still there and was startled to find his face mere inches from hers. The girl promptly feinted. Ryuto rubbed the back of his head, "I can't just leave her lying in the street. Oh well, I guess lunch will just have to wait." His mind made up, the boy who appeared wholly unremarkable on almost all accounts hoisted the unconscious girl over his shoulder and turned around and headed to where he remembered the Hyuuga clan compound to be.

It wasn't long before he arrived.

Naruto knew that most members of this particular clan weren't exactly friendly in any definition of the word but the two guards at the front were being down right rude. When they first saw him approach the only thing they had to say was a hostile, "Who goes there?!" Now Naruto could overlook that, it _was_ their job to be suspicious after all, but when he showed them the girl he'd brought the only thing they actually did was sneer. No 'thank you' came from them, if anything they only became more unwelcoming, demanding that he give them 'Lady Hinata' Which Naruto guessed was the girl's name. That would have been fine if they hadn't made some comment about him being some 'unsavory commoner' and how he had 'no right to even look at Lady Hinata.' That had pushed Naruto the wrong way. The boy had been looked down upon enough in his life, at the beginning it had been because the people thought he was some kind of demon or something (he didn't really understand), then after he became Ryuto it was because he was just some orphan, then when he joined the academy it was because he didn't have any sort of clan or special talent and while he'd kind of done that last one to himself that didn't mean it was any less infuriating. So he retorted, "At least I'm not apart of some clan full of guys with kunai jammed up their ass!"

In the Hyuuga clan it was a well known fact that Yoshino Hyuuga wasn't exactly a stable guy, in fact he angered extremely easily. So it wasn't a surprise when he blew up when Ryuto disrespected the clan in the way that he did. It went a little something like this, "HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT THE HYUUGA CLAN LIKE THAT?! YOU PATHETIC COMMONER! YOU CAN'T EVEN FATHOM THE GREATNESS THAT IS OUR CLAN! YOU SHOULD BE GREATFUL THAT WE HAVEN'T DECIDED TO KILL YOU FOR YOUR DISRESPECFUL WORDS! YOU THINK THAT BEING A CLAN IS A GAME?! IT'S NOT! SURE WE GET BENEFITS BECAUSE OF THE GREAT POWER THAT OUR FAMILY HOLDS BUT THAT IS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE PARANOIA THAT COMES WITH BEING THE BEST! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE WOULD KILL TO STEAL THESE EYES?! HOW MANY HAVE KILLED IN AN ATTEMPT TO STEAL THE POWER OF THE HYUUGA CLAN?!" The man paused to catch his breath as he glared triumphantly at the young ninja and to wipe the foam out of his mouth.

Ryuto wasn't impressed in the slightest and instead of letting it go unchallenged he responded in kind, "YOU KNOW WHAT?! YOU CLANS THINK YOU'RE ALL THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU GOT SOME SPECIAL POWER THAT GIVES YOU AN ADVANTAGE! YOU ACT LIKE EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD BE PRAISING THE GROUND YOU WALK ON! YOU AREN'T GODS! YOU CAN BLEED! YOU CAN GET HURT! YOU GET ANGRY AND YOU MAKE MISTAKES JUST LIKE EVER OTHER MOTHERFUCKER OUT THERE! YOU'RE HUMAN JUST LIKE THE REST OF US AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TREAT ANYONE LIKE THEY'RE BELOW YOU!" Naruto paused for a moment but continued before the guard could make a move to take advantage of the silence, "I JUST BROUGHT YOUR PRECIOUS 'LADY HINATA' BACK HOME WHEN I EASILY COULD HAVE LEFT HER PASSED OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET! BUT I DIDN'T! NOT BECAUSE SHE WAS APART OF ANY CLAN BUT BECAUSE THAT WAS WHAT ANY DECENT HUMAN BEING WOULD DO! REALLY! WOULD IT HAVE BEEN THAT HARD TO JUST GIVE ME A SIMPLE 'THANK YOU FOR BRINGING ONE OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS HOME' AND BE DONE WITH IT THEN AND THERE?! I MEAN COME ON!"

It was to this scene that Hiashi Hyuuga, the head of the Hyuuga clan and incidentally Hinata's father, had come out to in an effort to see what was causing this racket that was keeping him up from his midafternoon nap. What he saw was one of his guards arguing loudly with a kid who looked like he was fresh from the academy with his daughter slung over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes. The other guard was desperately trying to get the two to calm down but that was of no consequence. The clan head calmly made his way up to the argument and ended it with a few strokes of the gentle fist to his guard, thus silencing both sides as the boy was frozen in shock and his guard was completely immobilized.

The angry looking man silently motioned for his daughter and the boy numbly complied. Once his daughter was in his hands Hiashi spoke in his commanding voice, "Why did you have my daughter?" It took Ryuto a few moments to find his voice but he finally succeeded in his endeavor and when he did in stead of answering he asked a question, "Um, is that guy gonna be alright?" Hiashi frowned at the boy and said, "He will be fine now answer my question." Ryuto got a bad vibe from this new character that told him not to mess with him, "Oh, right. Well she fainted in the middle of the street so I figured I'd be a decent fellow and bring her home before anything seedy happened." The clan head nodded and with no feeling at all said, "You have my gratitude." With that the clan head obviously felt the conversation was over as he turned and walked away.

With a quick check with the second guard to make sure the first guard was going to be okay Ryuto turned and made his own way back to his house with a simple thought on his mind, _I'm glad none of them used their Byakugan._

* * *

The rest of Ryuto's day went smoothly and he'd even been lucky enough to find someone just starting to learn a new jutsu. He memorized the hand signs that the genin used and did his best to brake down how they were shaping their chakra as he watched while in the guise of a wayward squirrel. The boy didn't recognize the qenin so he had no qualms about 'learning' from him. After Naruto grew bored of watching the kid get the technique right twelve times in a row Naruto decided to make good on the capabilities of his shadow clones and sent a few to go and recreate that jutsu. While his clones were busy with that, Ryuto was left to his own devices, _Hmm, it's not often that I've actually got free time. What should I do?_ Ryuto snapped his fingers as he was struck with an idea, "I heard there's a ninja library around. I'm a ninja now, that mean's they'll let me into the ninja library now, right?"

His mind made up, Ryuto to a casual stroll in search of the building. He spent the better part of a half-hour strutting his stuff before he discovered that 'somewhere around here' really meant something more akin to 'across the village'. When the boy spotted the building he was looking for he allowed a bright smile to spread across his face as he made a bee line strait for the front door. One tug later and the smile was replaced with a frown. The door wasn't opening. Ryuto scratched the back of his head as he looked up and down the street, _What? Is the Library closed today? Well actually I guess the right term would be toni- Ooh._ The boy did a mental face palm _Of course the library's closed, it's nearly midnight. Well there goes my plan of checking out the library. Well I could go in anyway._ The boy actually face palmed at this, _Smooth move, idiot. This is a ninja facility, it's bound to have traps that even a high level ninja would have a hard time avoiding not to mention systems that would alert someone that someone else was braking in. No, it's better to wait. Patience is a virtue._

That thought in place, Ryuto was still faced with the predicament of what to do. He certainly wasn't tired so sleep was out of the question, he could go back to train with the shadow clones, as always there was definitely room to improve. It was at that point that the shadow clones dispelled in rapid succession. Well that option was out the window, the clones had made considerable progress with the jutsu compared to what Naruto had been able to do on his own in the past. They had all worked on different parts of the jutsu so Naruto was fairly confident he could put it all together and it'd come out fairly decent.

 _So training is out of the question,_ He conceded to himself, _I know I can go night and day when it comes to that. So what else can I do to tire myself out? Wait, what was that?_ The boy moved to investigate the sound he heard. From what the boy could tell it had come from inside one of the houses, he could see a faint light coming through one of the windows. As the boy stalked closer to the window he morphed into the form of a house cat he'd seen the other day, he deftly leapt onto the window sill and peered in with yellow eyes.

It was one of the villagers, digging through his fridge for a midnight snack. That gave the boy turned cat something to work with, _Hmm, not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all._ The cat leapt from his perch and as he moved became a boy once more, his destination someplace very specific. His kitchen. He'd learned from experience that it was way easier to fall asleep on a full stomach, so he'd make a snack and then head to bed. It was a plan, a direction to go, a goal to work towards. When the door closed behind him, Naruto dropped his disguise and turned to look at the lone mirror on the bare wall, silently reminding himself that this was his true form. Blazing blonde hair, piercing blue eyes. The blonde absently brushed his fingers over the whisker marks in his cheek, he hadn't been able to find any sort of explanation for them. They were just, there.

Letting that thought slip away, the boy spoke in a low voice, "This is who I am. My name is Naruto." This was a sort of ritual of his, he did it nearly every night when he entered his sanctuary. It was the only thing he could really do to remind himself of who he really was. He was the only one who knew his name, except for the third hokage. That thought bothered the young boy, _how had he seen through my disguise? I didn't sense anything from him and even though I was tired that was no reason for my disguise to weaken. The old man shouldn't have ben able to se who he was. And yet he did._ The boy shook his head in an effort to banish the unsettling thoughts from his mind as he pulled off his sandles and made his way into his kitchen, careful to avoid all of the noisy floorboards.

"So, what do I have that's quick and easy? Hmm." Naruto's eyes wandered around the various contents of his cupboard until they landed on his emergency stock of instant ramen. Involuntarily the boy's toung snaked out to lick his lips in desire, then the boy shook his head in an attempt to master his stomach, "No, that's the emergency stash, and this definitely isn't an emergency."

The boy hung his head as he decided on sushi for dinner, again. The blonde sighed, "I wish I knew how to make ramen."

* * *

So what did you think? You can let my know by using the review bar just below this story.

Don't worry, I don't bite. Unless you're a sandwich. In that case, _**BE AFRAID, BEVERY AFRAID...**_

Tootles!


	3. Third time's the charm!

Hi all! Are you ready for this!

I'd apologize for the wait time but you've already been warned!

Whahahahahaha!

* * *

After a fiasco with the Third Hokage's grandson that ended rather abruptly, Ryuto was on his way back to the library, _They're sure to be open now, it's midday._ The boy was determined to see the inside of the library walls, so determined in fact that he didn't notice the pink hair until he almost road killed the owner. Even then, he didn't really pay attention to who it was, only pausing for an apologetic grin and a half-hearted apology. The boy only really started paying attention when he heard the beginnings of feminine violence in the girl's words, "Why you..."

 **"IDIOT!"** In that moment Ryuto was grateful for substitution. It probably wasn't a good idea to say anything and Naruto cursed himself for having to stay in character but that didn't stop him from doing it, "Jeez Pinky! You coulda killed me with that! Heck you killed my substitution log and then some! What got your panties in a knot anyways? You get up on the wrong side of the bed or something 'cause that was just rude." A lot more substitution logs met their demise on that fateful day.

After about twenty more substitutions Sakura was leaning against a wall for support as she fought desperately to catch her breath, her muscles quivered in revolt as her brain tried to maintain an iron rule. It was all the pinkette could do to get her lungs to expand and contract at all, and standing in front of her was the cause of her discomfort, hands in pockets, hips slightly forward, shoulders back. In that moment Ryuto was the pinnacle of nonchalance, so hip a beautiful green beast might've challenged him right then and there. As the girl's breath returned to her, she couldn't help the blush that graced her features as she unconsciously replaced the face of the boy in front of her with that of her idol.

Ryuto buffed his nails on his shirt, still not truly paying attention to his surroundings, "Well, that was a fun little distraction and all but I do have places to go, training to do, jutsu to learn. Y'know, shinobi stuff." He shrugged as he turned around, idly wondering how large a selection of techniques there was at his destination. He didn't think the girl would have any steam left, he realized he was wrong just before he burst into a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Naruto paused in his sit ups to go over the memories of the clone that had dispelled unexpectedly. If not for the degree that he'd honed his self control, the boy would've winced, _And there is another reason to never turn your back on an enemy, no matter how cool it looks._ He wondered if he'd have to make a conscious effort to avoid the vicious pink haired banshee that seemed to be turning up more than usual, _Eh, she doesn't matter._ And with that simple dismissal Ryuto shaped his fingers into the cross shaped seal of what was quickly becoming his second favorite jutsu, the highly coveted spot up top taken by his own variant of the transformation technique he used to be everyone's favorite knuckle-head.

The clone popped into existence with minimal smoke (Naruto had been working towards being able to do the technique without the normal puff of smoke and then after that without the handsign) and rushed off in the direction of the ever elusive library, the clones pretty much knew what they needed to do as long as he kept the objective in his mind while performing the technique.

Ryuto sighed in thought, _I hope my clone'll avoid what's-her-face at least long enough to get the layout of the place._ With a grunt of effort, the boy returned to his workout with renewed vigor, "Okay, four-hundred sixty-eight, four-hundred sixty-nine, four-hundred..."

* * *

Naruto woke up a bit earlier than he normally would, after all it was the day they'd be getting their team assignments as official genin of the hidden leaf village. For a moment he wondered if he'd be able to trust them with his secret, _Oh Kami, that'll be the day. I think I really might have gotten up too early this time._ As if the universe had decided to agree, the young boy heard the calls of a wayward owl out in the distance. Still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, the blond seamlessly shifted into the form of his brown-haired counterpart. Soon enough he was out of his apartment and ready for some extra early morning training.

Ryuto took a breath of the crisp air as he vaulted off of the second story of his apartment, landing silently and taking off as a shadow in the night. The boy flitted between the buildings, barely disturbing the dirt of the roads as he moved toward an unknown destination. He didn't expect anyone to actually be crazy enough to actually be out at that time, then again he also didn't expect anyone to be insane enough to wear that forest green abomination of fashion.

A cry of 'Youth!' was the boy's only warning of the horror about to befall him. Moments later the sight of a full grown man in skin tight spandex assaulted the poor boy and almost caused him to brake his henge right then and there. Luckily he was able to catch himself before he ran into the man, his huge eyebrows wriggling as if they possessed a life of their own. The man flashed a blinding smile and started talking, "It's not every day that I get to see the young people of this generation fostering their youthful flames without prompt. It is truly refreshing for my own flames of youth to see your own blazing brightly in the sky. As a token of my youthful respect of your own youthful flames I will bequeath unto you the youthful green spandex of the eternal springtime!" Ryuto's eyes bugged out slightly, _Where in the world did he pull THAT out of?_ The green clad man paid no heed to the boy's reaction and in stead tossed the spandex jumpsuit to the boy before going into his 'Nice Guy' pose, "That jumpsuit you have in your hands is made out of a special super-arid material that will let your body breath almost as if you weren't wearing clothes at all, once you wear it for one training session you won't want to ever take it off! Now go! Fan your youthful flames to their utmost!" With that final statement the green shouty man departed with another earsplitting cry of 'Youth!' and all the grace of a rampaging bull.

Ryuto had no idea what to do with the jumpsuit he'd caught out of reflex, he was afraid of letting the offending article of clothing out of his sight for fear that it would come alive, much like the eyebrows of the bowl cut wonder, and forcibly attach itself to him. Regardless of his reaction the boy was reluctant of simply throwing the gift away, Naruto could count on one hand all the times that he'd been on the receiving end of an actual gift regardless of which face he wore. So now he was faced with a dilemma, he could either get rid of the suit and with it his honor and morals as a generally pleasant human being. _Or,_ the torn jinchuriki thought with a shiver of despair, _I could take it home, but even if I never wear it I'll be running the risk of someone seeing it in my_ possession. The boy paused with a sigh in shame, Who _am I kidding? There's a better chance of pigs flying than there is of me actually getting visitors. That's probably a good thing now that I think about it, if I had any visitors that'd make life more complicated than it needs to be._

Ryuto nodded to himself after a time of deliberation, his decision made. Immediately after he decided that it would be better for him to spend the rest of the morning in recovery of such a traumatic experience. Some calming tea sounded like a good idea right about then.

* * *

Kiba was having a pretty good morning, he'd had an awesome dream that night, he woke up to boysenberry waffles for breakfast, on his morning walk with Akamaru he'd gone farther than ever before, _And to top everything off, we're getting their team assignments today! Who hoo! We're movin' up Akamaru!_ Yes, Kiba was in such a good mood he didn't realize something was a miss until he was about halfway to his perch in the classroom. "Oh hey Ryuto, It's been awhile man."

"Sure has, how's the mutt?"

"He's not a- Wait, why're you even here? Didn't you fail?" Ryuto rolled his eyes and pointed a thumb to the metal plate on his forehead, "What does it look like? I swear is that going to be the only thing I'll be noticed for? I mean come on! There's so much more to comment on, my handsome mug, my excellent marksmanship, my manly demeanor, my awesome personality! I mean, there's just so much more to comment on but all everybody wants to focus on is the bad!"

"Calm your tits short stack it was just a question!" The Inuzuka heir casually ignored one of the other students trying to reprimand him, "Anywho, how'd ya manage that? C'mon you can tell me buddy!" The disguised blond kicked back onto the back legs of his chair with a barely disguised smirk, "I think you should take your advice if you know what I mean, Dog-Breath." A chorus of laughter filled the room and even drowned out the sounds of the Yamanaka clan heir's argument with the pinkette. As a result, no one noticed the chunin's form as he entered through the doorway. When the teacher's first attempts to calm the class proved futile Iruka chose a different approach that yielded much better results. Iruka used a genjutsu to make his head look freakishly large (and ugly) as well as a vocal technique used to drastically increase the volume at which one is able to speak. The students were startled into a temporary paralysis. With everyone in the room silent Iruka slapped a smile on his face and launched right into his speech about being a Konoha ninja.

Needless to say, it was dull.

Naruto felt like his brain would explode from the constant grating on his conscience that was his teacher's voice. The boy felt sorry for the man, he'd come to the conclusion that Iruka had contracted a dangerous disease that, while not life threatening, made life extremely difficult for anyone nearby. The disguised blond called it Lecturitis.

Finally after the excruciating hour and a half of being subject to a constant stream of Lecturitis Iruka stopped talking long enough to take in a panoramic view of the classroom full of newly minted genin. He smiled to himself at how much they had all grown since when he'd first met them so many years ago, "Now," There was something about the way he'd said that word, maybe it was the conviction with which he'd spoken, that broke the spell of boredom that had fallen upon the class. The chunnin seemed not to notice the change in tone as he continued, "As you all know, now that you're all officially ninja of the hidden leaf village you'll be assigned to a team three, two of your fellow genin and yourself. Each team will be under the tutelage and command of a jonin sensei who will be coming in shortly for you, which is why I'll just be shooting right into telling you all what team you're on and who'll be on that team with you. Ready? Let's go! Team 1..."

Ryuto groaned to himself as he balanced his chair on it's back two legs, _Could you be any slower? I swear, by the time you actually get around to calling my team we'll all be nothin' but stinky piles of dust._ The boy waited a few more minutes, listening to the monotony that was Iruka's voice. He was getting fed up with all of this suspencem If _he doesn't call my name in the next ten seconds I'm going to set off a smoke bomb and replace myself with a shadow clone while I go train._ It wasn't a moment after that Iruka said, "Team 7, Haruno Sakura, Shota Ryuto,"

"Finally!"

"...And Uchiha Sasuke." Immediately after cheer's of "Love conquers all!" filled the entire room. Ryuto hummed thoughtfully to himself while ignoring the spectacle of one of his teammates trying and failing to crope his other teammate, _So, I got pinky and gloomy huh? I wonder how the joinin sensei will try to create bonds between us. Meh, it's not like it matters._ As that thought faded out of existence the boy allowed his eyes to drift around the room as his mind sifted through the information his clone had come up with.

After an extended period of time spent recovering from the green clad traumatic experience that was Might Guy, Ryuto had decided that he'd send a clone to library in a third attempt to actually get in. His thought at the time being _Third time's the charm_ _._ The boy had been pleasantly surprised when one of his clone's clones dispelled, letting him know that his infiltration had been successful and also sending him theoretical knowledge of the martial art style that clone had decided to read up on. Naruto wasn't disappointed by the clone's choice, that particular martial art focused mostly on throws and grapples.

The information he'd received from the clones at the library dispelling themselves had played a large part in warding off his teacher's Lecturitis and he was using the same tactic to keep himself from the depths of boredom once again. He knew that it was only a temporary solution and that the clones would eventually run all the way out of chakra, leaving him with the same problem later on but he just couldn't bring himself to care at that moment in time. It was something to occupy himself with he was gonna occupy himself with it, gosh darn it!

Soon enough his clones did run out of chakra and the boy finally noticed that his team was alone in the room. It seemed even Iruka left. Finding himself growing bored from watching his idle teammates the ninja decided to do something productive with the time. Climbing out of his chair with a smooth motion Ryuto stripped off his jacket first and then his shirt, _Let's get down to business!_

Sakura was shocked out of her daydream by a loud kiai. Angered by the sudden end of Mrs. Uchiha Sakura, the pinkette moved to find the source of the noise. "Oi!" Ryuto didn't look up from his rapid fire pushups, "What do you want, Pinky? I'm kinda busy with somethin' so if you don't want anything could you just leave me be?" Sakura's eyebrow twitched slightly as a dark grin spread across her face, her voice switching to a disgustingly sweet tone, "You want to know what I want, Ry-u-to?" Her entire face transformed into a mask of anger as her fist flew back in preparation of a punch, "I WANNA KNOW WHY YOU THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO WAKE ME FROM MY DAY DREAM!" Just as Ryuto sat up to reply, his possible apology was interrupted as Sakura's fist rocketed forward.

A resounding crack filled the room, followed by the sound of a thud as Ryuto fell to the floor and his head slid down the wall. It took a moment for the girl to register what she had done. She hadn't been a ninja for even a single day and already she'd killed her teammate on accident. What would happen to her? Would the hokage put her in jail for the rest of her life? No, he'd probably kill her outright, she had killed a fellow leaf shinobi. But it was an accident, that had to count as something right? But what about Sasuke? He's a witness. What would he say? For that matter what would he think? Sakura couldn't bare the thought of her idol thinking badly of her, but what could she do? The damage was already done. She'd crossed the point of no return. She didn't mean to knock her teammate's head _off_. Just a hit to let him know not to do that again. She wasn't trying to do anything bad. She didn't deserve to be put in jail. She didn't deserve to be separated from Sasuke! SHE-

Sakura's inner tangent was interrupted by a sight tsk sound right next to her ear, "Jeez Sakura you didn't have to knock my freakin' head off! A few words would've been fine, really. Why'd you have to go and do it! I had things to live for too ya'know." Slowly, eyes wide, Sakura edged her head around to get a look at where the voice of the newly deceased Ryuto was coming from, her face growing paler than the subject of her affections. Complaining right in front of her was none other than the ghost of the boy she'd just killed, his frowning head tucked neatly under his arm. Sakura promptly feinted.

Ryuto allowed a huge grin to emerge on his face as he and his dead body were both shrouded by thick chakra smoke. When the smoke cleared Ryuto could be clearly seen alive and well (And head fully attached) standing where his ghost had been while the spot where his body had been was occupied instead by a log that had been carved into the shape of a person with the wooden head resting nearby on the wall.

All this and more could be seen if the last Uchiha had bothered to look.

* * *

As always I do appreciate it when you wonderful viewers decide to grace my presence with your wonderful reviews full of constructive criticism.

Chow!


	4. Four Man Team!

Hi everybody!

Sorry for the lack of updates, my computer has been out of commision since almost immediatly after the last one got published so I've had to do quite a bit of finagling to get you this update. Y'all better appreciate what I do for you people! Actually, I should be the one appreciating all of you for reading and reviewing!

On to the story!

* * *

Kakashi was late. It wasn't a surprising occurrence, in fact he was known for being late to just about any sort of gathering without exception. What was a surprising occurrence was the sight in front of the copy ninja. Kakashi just wasn't sure what to make of it. He had the talent in the front of the room, completely oblivious to his surroundings, the brains was lying unconscious at the feet of the 'Dobe' who had been cackling uncontrollably up until the moment he actually poked his head in. Making sure that his signature aloofness was in check Kakashi rattled off the same old line that he always pointed at his potential genin teams, "My first impression of you..." The brown hared kid by the unconscious pinkette looked at the jonin hopefully, "...I hate you all." Que eye smile, "Meet me on the roof in five." One shunshin later and, "Wait, WHAT?!" The copy nin chuckled to himself as he whipped out his favorite piece of literature, _Another perfect performance by one Hatake Kakashi._

* * *

Ryuto sat in front of the supposed jonin of team seven dutifully acting enthusiastic about everything. This was not actually the case and truth be told Naruto was unhappy. Since the last Uchiha had walked off by himself it had been up to the disguised blond to carry his teammate who had yet to wake up. Currently the pinkette was slobbering on a bench to the left of the boys of team seven. Naruto was puzzled that the hokage would actually assign someone so tardy as a jonin instructor, and he wondered at the competence of the ninja in front of him. The guy didn't look like much and Ryuto's opinion of him was already plummeting rapidly if the orange book in his supposed sensei's hands had anything to do with it.

"One question before we start." This question didn't come from either of the two genin who were awake, "Why has she feinted already? We haven't even done anything yet." Sasuke gave a very helpful, "Hn." Ryuto decided to elaborate, "She couldn't handle it." Kakashi's one visible eyebrow rose slightly, an unspoken question written on the visible portion of the leaf jonin's face. The boy just leaned back with a shit-eating grin on his face. The copy nin was not amused.

The silver haired ninja coughed into his hand with an awkward gesture, successfully getting the attention of the two boys assigned to his team, "Well! Back on track, I'd like to get to know you guys a bit so we'll start with some introductions. You." He pointed at Sasuke, "Start." The last Uchiha did a lot of grunting and shrugging without opening his mouth any more than necessary. The eyebrow crawled a bit higher. When it appeared Sasuke was done with his 'introduction' the finger shifted toward Ryuto, "Your turn." In the background Sakura made a sort of sloppy snorting sound that sounded suspiciously like the name of the gloomy Uchiha. The eyebrow was climbing faster than a hungry monkey, and Kakashi hoped beyond hope that he'd at least have one more-or-less normal genin this time around even if he was already making plans to fail them, _The last Uchiha be damned, I will not teach these weirdos._

When Ryuto launched into a tirade about ramen, that was the last nail in the coffin. Kakashi was going to fail this team if it was the last thing he did. Either way it was almost guaranteed that they'd fail anyway, any competent ninja could see from a mile away that these cute little genin had no teamwork what so ever. _Heck,_ Kakashi thought to himself, _If anything their teamwork is probably in the negatives from what I've seen. Ugh, better get this over with as quick as possible._ The ninja sighed to himself and flicked a slip of paper at the two male members of his team, "There you guys go, your first responsibility as official ninja of the leaf is to participate in a survival exercise."

At this news Ryuto jumped to his feet with a shout, "What?! But we already passed the entrance exam! I did not come all this way just to find out that I didn't actually become a ninja!" The disguised blonde pointed a finger at the ninja with gravity defying hair in a show of fake anger. Naruto was actually upset at the news that there was another test but instead of doing anything drastic the boy still had enough sense to use his actual feelings to make his performance all the more believable.

And they were biting right into his act.

Sasuke smirked and nodded with one of his patented grunts. It seemed the last Uchiha was similarly disgruntled about the situation. Good. One of the rules that Naruto lived by was and always would be, always have a backup plan. It seemed that Kakashi was slightly impressed by the slight show of camaraderie, an extra bonus. The jonin blinked once before voicing his reply, "That little graduation exam was just to weed out the little squirts who had no chance at being any kind of competent ninja. This little test is to separate those who are ready to begin their duties as ninja and those who don't quite have what it takes to be ninja yet. Only one third of the the academy's passing class actually becomes genning out of any given genin crop. Heck, the test is so hard that if I actually told you what it was right now you'd both be begging me to just fail you outright."

"Hm? Did you say something?" Kakashi and Sasuke both sweat dropped, _He didn't listen to a word I said._ In his mind Kakashi visualized himself standing up on a stage in the middle of a market, unleashing his best jokes upon the world and no one was even listening! _Calm down Kakashi. C'mon, deep breaths, don't destroy your adorable genin before they even have a chance to fail spectacularly_. "Well, if you're so confident then I'll leave you to your devices. The meeting time is seven o'clock sharp, don't be late." The ninja eyesmiled, "Oh, and don't eat breakfast either, don't want any of my cute little genin to puke their first day on the job." With that parting statement the copy ninja disapeered in a swirl of leaves.

Ryuto turned toward his male teammate and said, "So, you wanna wait for our lovely third wheel to wake up before we part ways?" The young Uchiha was already over the railing by the time Ryuto had finished speaking, "Yeah, I didn't think you would." With a cursory glance over the paper Kakashi had given him, Ryuto left it with Sakura as he took to the rooftops. He figured she'd need it more.

* * *

Ryuto was the first to arrive at the designated meeting place, one of the many clearings of training ground seven. One of his clones had just dispelled letting him know that all of his surprises were prepped for the party. The boy aloud himself a tiny smile as he settled into a meditative stance, _No point in revealing any unneeded information to Mr. Pervert Jonin. Honestly he's probably hiding in some bush to see how we'll interact without any supervision. I wonder what he wants to see._

Sasuke was the second of the genin to arrive, drowsy eyed and grumpy faced. After their sensei had left the day before, the last Uchiha spent the rest of his day gathering all the materials that he might need. There was no way for the dark haired wonder to know what the test was going to be so he figured he might as well prepare for as many possibilities as he could think of. He had to pass that test, no matter what, he had to! How else could he defeat _h_ _im?_ How else would he be able to achieve his _revenge?_ So he stayed up late into the night drilling himself again and again over his forms and stances, working himself to perfection. As a result the last Uchiha had skipped out on his beauty sleep and was now grumpier than usual.

Sakura came last and spectacularly failed to noticed her crush's bad mood, "Sasuke! Would you like to hang out together if we pass? What am I saying? Of course we're going to pass! You're the top genin! How could we not? You will save me if I need it won't you, Sasuke?" Sakura felt like the temperature had dropped straight to freezing when the object of her affections turned his cold dark eye upon her. She felt her throat constrict and she couldn't seem to force any kind of sound out. The clearing was completely silent, nothing moved. The clueless pinkette was seriously reconsidering her views on looks and killing. Sasuke drew in a slow, steady breath. Sakura's sea-green eyes were wide open in fear. The scene looked like something out of a movie.

And then Ryuto walked right through the whole thing, cheshire grin in place, and smacked the dark haired Uchiha on the back with a grin, "C'mon Dusty, don't pay any attention to her, she's just excited to be here." The Uchiha startled and looked at his fellow academy graduate weirdly and shrugged the hand off his shoulder, "Don't touch me." The disguised blonde's smile stretched a bit wider, "If that's what you want, Dusty." The hand was back, "Is that what you really want, Dusty?" Sasuke frowned a little harder and rubbed his tired eyes, "Yes it is. I want you to take your fucking hand off of my damned shoulder before I remove it for you." The grin stretched a bit farther as Ryuto held up his left hand, "This is my 'fucking hand', as you put it, thank you very much Dusty." Sasuke could see Sakura fighting to keep her giggles under control from the corner of his eye, "I am going to kill you."

"Now now Sasuke, or should I say Dusty? You can't go killing your comrades until you've become a rouge ninja and to do that you'd have to actually be a ninja first. So could you control yourself for now, at least?"

Before the last Uchiha could respond, Sakura screamed out "You're late, Sensei!" Kakashi eye smiled at the pinkette, "Well, you see... A black cat crossed my path so I had to go the long way!" Sakura's eyebrow twitched, "What, did you walk around the village?" The masked ninja just kept eye smiling as he dangled two bells in front of the genin, "Here are two bells." Sasuke grunted, "No kidding." The jonin pulled out a timer and set it down in front of the genin, "So you can talk, I thought you were a mute or something. Back on topic, the test is simple, be in possession of one of these bells when this timer goes off and you pass."

"But sensei," It was Sakura speaking, "There are only two bells." The copy ninja sweat dropped, **_She's_** _supposed to be the smartest kunoichi?_ _If that's the case then I can't see how any of this batch are actually gonna pass their jonin's tests._ "That's right, Sakura. Congratulations, you've passed the 'say how many bells there are right after Kakashi' test. Anyway, whoever doesn't get a bell will be strapped to one of these lovely logs while you watch the rest of us eat our lunch, after which they'd be sent packing back to the academy." Ryuto raised his eyebrow, "Is that all?" Kakashi shook his head, "Just one last thing, you have permition to use any tools for this test. Kunai, shuriken, senbon, whatever weapons and jutsu you've got in your arsenal. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill then you'll have no chance at all of even getting close to these bells. Now," The three academy graduates all tensed in anticipation, "Start!"

* * *

Kakashi was bored.

Predictably, both the top kunoichi and strongest genin launched themselves into the nearby foliage in an attempt to hide. Kakashi sighed to himself as he reached for his favorite piece of literature, _Tactics strait out of the ninja rule book, disguise your presence and formulate a plan. Hm?_ It seemed the ramen enthusiast of the team was running at him with the intention of a full frontal assault right from the get-go. Kakashi smirked under his face mask, _This shouldn't take much effort._

* * *

Sasuke sweat-dropped.

It seemed the class dunce was out to prove himself as the least sensible ninja ever. How did he expect to even get within touching distance of any professional ninja without any sort of plan or preparation? Sasuke frowned at his terrible luck, it seemed that even though he was almost guaranteed to pass the stupid(in his opinion) test, whoever the other person on his team was going to be was without a doubt going to be an idiot in one sense or another.

Those were the thoughts going through the Uchiha prodigy's mind as he watched his classmate charge recklessly toward his soon to be sensei.

* * *

Sakura was in distress.

When Kakashi had said start she hadn't been paying attention and had accidentally dived in the opposite direction as her crush.

The naive girl was currently to preocupied looking for her love to notice that her other teammate was charging at her team's jonin sensei.

* * *

Ryuto had a plan.

The plan was to pressure the grey haired jonin with a continuous stream of violence until he saw an opening. The boy charged at the masked jonin with a fist cocked back in preparation for a devastating hay maker. A few steps away from his target the boy launched himself into the air, telegraphing his movements all the way.

Until he flung his face at his sensei at high speeds, completely missing Kakashi. But Ryuto wasn't done. As his head came down in front of the unimpressed jonin, his foot came up and over followed by the rest of his body in a momentous axe kick. The kick didn't connect but that didn't stop the boy. He had gotten Kakashi moving and that was something to capitalize on.

Ryuto let out an intense battle cry, already resolving to go all out in this contest of strength and speed.

A slight distance away from the fight, the true Naruto watched the battle intently from his perch as a nondescript squirrel.

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I hope you liked it, the more you review the more I write, and live long and prosper.

Bless your face! If you sneezed while reading this fanfic, Bless You! Peace!


	5. Five on One

Hi everybody!

How you doin'? In the mood for a story? What a coincidence, I got one right here!

Go ahead and read it, I don't mind :)

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"One of the most important skills that will save a ninja's life is taijutsu, the art of the body!"

Those were the words that Kakashi had spoken while effortlessly weaving around the loud boy's attacks. It frustrated the clone how the masked jonin seemed to dance around his fists, disregarding the clone as he read his porn. It burned the clone up inside, being underestimated like that had never sat well with Naruto and it didn't sit well with his clones either. But that didn't stop the boy from taking advantage of the opportunity that underestimation gave him. Taking another swing at his evasive sensei the clone took note of their surroundings. Yes, he recognized that rock. The clone lash out with a couple more wild kicks and then Kakashi was in position.

The Copy Ninja wasn't truly impressed with the skills Ryuto had shone so far, sure his fighting style(if you could call it that) was ferocious in it's own clumsy way it wasn't anything special. He had caught the slight wandering of the boy's eye and suspected he might've set a trap in the area. _Might as well see if whatever trap the boy had cooked up was half decent or not._ So Kakashi let himself be maneuvered as he read his make out paradise.

All the masked jonin really expected was maybe some kind of wire triggered trap, most likely a tripling that might trigger a quick spike trap that could be easily dodged. Going off of just the boy's file(he'd only skimmed it) he hadn't even expected that from the boy, but it seemed he had some amount of hidden skill. At least the boy showed some semblance of potential, even if his taijutsu was terrible to the elite ninja. As Kakashi was thinking these thoughts he was actually somewhat surprised when two hands grabbed onto his ankles just as the boy came in for another swing.

Just before his punch landed, Kakashi substituted with a log and the ryuto clone would have dispelled himself on it had he not insulated himself with a small layer of chakura just in case of these kinds of mishaps. It was an essential part of the plan that everyone think that he was the real Ryuto and the clone was determined to do his job. He smiled as he listened for the explosion he knew would come and high-fived his fellow clone as he waited, "Nice work, Buddy!" The clone that had just dug itself out of the ground grinned before dispelling, his parting words being "The job's not over yet!"

A few hundred feet away a tree exploded and the remaining clone took off in that direction.

* * *

Sasuke was surprised that Kakashi actually looked slightly ruffled from the class clown's last attack. The last Uchiha smirked as he allowed his ego to be bolstered, if the dead last was able to do that much then it really was guaranteed that the best in the class would get a bell without any kind of effort, flying far and beyond the reach of such imbeciles, ever closer to achieving his revenge.

While Sasuke was ranting to himself(in his head of course) he didn't notice Kakashi sitting right behind him until it was too late, "Uhm… You should be trying to get one of these bells instead of just starting strap ahead giggling maniacally." Sasuke whipped around wide-eyed while the copy nin eye-smiled and performed an impossibly fast set of hand seals.

Suddenly Sasuke was back at his clan's compound, blood running freely across the ground as though it were water, staining the bottom of his sandals an unpleasant shade of brown. Sasuke looked up, and towering far above his now seven year old form stood the object of his hatred. Glowing red eyes narrowed at Sasuke's trembling form, "You will never be able to kill me, little brother. You are far too weak, you don't have enough hate. You will fail, and when you do I will throw you to the fangirls, hog-tied and with nothing to cover your decency!" His lips parted only marginally yet the entire sky rumbled with the silhouetted man's words.

" **NOOOOOOOOOOOO** OOOOOOOOO _OOOOOOOO~~~!"_

Just a few minutes after the ninja cyclopes left Sakura wandered into a small clearing and found her crush on the ground, unconscious and foaming at the mouth. A moment later Sakura joined him in his embrace of Mother Earth.

That was when Ryuto entered the scene, hands in pockets, slight slouch, overall appearing very relaxed. The disguised boy cast an uncaring eye around the clearing before is gaze finally settled on his unconscious teammates. Naruto silently debated the pores and cons of waking the two on the ground or leaving them to fail, there wasn't much time left so two non-clone, non-trap distractions could be useful. Oh, and he'd have to show some attempt at teamwork or else he'd fail anyway so there was that too. Ryuto sighed as he dispelled the genjutsu Sasuke was under and he sighed harder when he had to pull out the smelling salts to wake Sakura.

Ryuto waited for their brains to start working before he began, "Hey, you both cognitive?" Two confused nods, "Good. I'm gonna get strait to the point so pay attention, none of us can take Kakashi on and emerge victorious. There's just no way, not by ourselves. So I propose we work together to get those bells," He raised a hand to stop the oncoming protests, "Before you start arguing about who gets a bell I've already volunteered to be the one who goes back to the academy, I didn't pass the official test so It would probably be beneficial if I take the course again. Are you with me?" Two reluctant nods, "Good," At this point Ryuto pulled out a kunai and began drawing diagrams in the dirt, "So here's the plan, I'm going to continue distracting Kakashi up close, working to move him into that big clearing where we all started, where you two will be lying in wait. When I give the signal Sakura is going to activate all of the kunai traps I have hidden in the underbrush around that clearing. I've hooked them all together to a single trigger wire, located here." He pointed at a spot on his map in the dirt, then looked at Sasuke, "Your job will be the actual extraction. The Kunai are just a diversion to brake Kakashi's concentration. When you see me give the signal you're going to substitute with me, snatch the bells and immediately substitute out of there, because when Sakura sets off that trap, you don't want to get hit. Okay," Ryuto looked at his teammate's faces, all furrowed in concentration, and felt the beginnings of something that might not have been dislike for them. He crushed the feeling before it could distract him, promising himself to look into it later, "Any questions?"

"Um, you said you'd continue distracting Kakashi," It was Sakura, always looking into the least relevant things. Naruto was pretty sure that feeling(whatever it was) wouldn't be coming back any time soon, "But you can't have been doing that, you've been talking with us. No one can be in two places at once." Ryuto smiled his fake smile and said, "Actually, I'm just a clone." And in a poof he was gone, leaving Sakura and Sasuke to scramble to get to their positions, the drawings in the dirt already forgotten.

* * *

Naruto had finished studying Kakashi's movements and figured it was time to step onto the playing field. The clone fighting against the Copy Ninja was almost completely out of energy from the constant substitutions and chakura insulation to make sure he didn't pop, and he also knew from the memories of another clone that Sakura and Sasuke were aware of the plan. The disguised boy carefully watched for his opportunity to switch with the clone and found it when the clone had tossed a smoke bomb right at Kakashi's face. The switch was soundless as Naruto changed from an unassuming squirrel to the confident facade that was Ryuto Shota.

Wasting no time, Ryuto charged out of the smoke, hurling kunai ahead of him towards where he heard the jonin to be while at the same time pumping chakra into his legs and feet, launching himself past and ahead of the throwing knife. Kakashi dodged and Ryuto landed, backhand already in motion. The move hit nothing but air, but the boy caught his Kunai mid flight and redirected it to where the grey haired sensei's jump would land him. The jonin latched onto a passing branch to change his trajectory, saying, "You're a lot better than your file implies, you've got me on the run."

Ryuto immediately countered with a flying kick at the eye smiling jonin, "You've been holding back." Kakashi kept on eye smiling even as he blocked Ryuto's nonstop onslaught of flying fists and feet, "It wouldn't do if I accidentally killed any of my genin hopefuls." Ryuto deadpanned even as his fists blurred towards his masked possible sensei, "Then what was that _One Thousand Years of Death_ thing about?! A lesser man like Dusty would've died for sure if that'd hit! It's a good thing I dodged that or I might not've been fit to be a ninja even if I survived!" Kakashi kept on eye smiling, "What? You're still holding a grudge about that old thing? I swear it feels like it's been ages since that happened." Ryuto smiled dangerously, "Oh, I'll never forget that you tried to poke me in the ass, Homosexual Sensei! I honestly didn't think the rumors were true about you until you came at me today." Now Kakashi was leaking out killing intent as his own fist rocketed forward to make it's first impression on Ryuto's face, "Crap!" The boy exploded into a cloud of chakra smoke and Kakashi's eye widened slightly when Ryuto spoke the five words every seasoned warrior fears much more than death from right behind him, _"One Thousand Years of Death!"_

Only the Copy Ninja's years of combat sharpened reflexes saved him from the infinite doom that was that technique, but as he landed Ryuto was back in his face screaming one word at the top of his lungs, "NOW!"

Mind still coming down from the panic that was being faced with that forbidden technique, Kakashi(against his better judgement) turned towards the sound of thousands of feet of ninja wire recoiling, immediately followed by the sound of thousands of kunai flying through the air at high speeds. He only looked back at the sound Sasuke substituting away with both of the bells. A moment before the black mist hit him, Kakashi did the same.

* * *

"As promised, you two can have the bells."

Sakura stared at Ryuto, confusion evident on her face, "Why'd you do that? You could have just as easily only included one of us and you still would have passed! Why didn't you? What's your angle? You better not be trying to get a date!" Ryuto sweat dropped at the pinkette's line of thought.

Ryuto directed a charming smile at Sakura and spoke in an inviting voice, "What's got your panties in a bunch? You passed and so did your precious Sasuke, you should be celebrating. Unless you don't want to be on the same team as dusty over there? If that's the case then by all means, continue pissing me off." Naruto couldn't believe it, he basically passed that test for her and Sakura could think to do was interrogate him about why he did it. He was fighting a jonin level ninja for Kami's sake! All she had to do was cut a wire on a trap that he made. _I mean Come On! What does a guy have to do around here to get a simple 'Thank you, you're so awesome, I wish I could be like you, Ryuto!'_

Naruto would've been content to live his fantasies in silence as they waited for their sensei to show up, but Sasuke had decided to use his tongue for something other than eating tomatoes, "You, you're stronger than you let on. You could've gotten those bells yourself." With his statement done, Sasuke struck a pose and Sakura poured everyone a round of 'Sasuke's coolness', of which Ryuto did not partake. "Sorry to burst your bubble Dusty, but the world doesn't revolve around me. Kakashi was obviously holding way back. He only struck back at me once and if it'd hit we wouldn't be having this conversation." Sasuke narrowed his eyes but it was Sakura who spoke, "And what was up with that totally perverted technique you tried to use on Kakashi!? What are you a pervert or something?" Sasuke was curious about that as well, it was a vile technique but he'd be lying if he didn't say it wasn't useful. Ryuto's eyes caught a dangerous glint as he turned casually, "Oh that? That was just payback."

"Payback huh? Maybe I should get some too?" Ryuto felt a heavy hand on his shoulder and as he turned to look at Kakashi standing behind him he could only think of one thing to say, " _Crap!_ "

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So…

What did you think? You can tell me by posting a review, in case you didn't know.

Chow!


	6. Six Eyes Watching Me

Hi everybody, how's it going?

I haven't been able to work on this as much as I've wanted because of personal reasons. BUT! I am still writing for this story whenever I can.

As a forewarning, this chapter isn't very exiting, even so, I appreciate your support, now let's read!

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To Kakashi's dismay, he couldn't find a reason not to pass the genin team, and it was with a heavy heart that he told them the news. After tying Ryuto up, of course.

In an indistinct monotone the man began to speak, "I suppose that some congratulations are in order." Sakura eyed her jonin sensei brightly, "You mean-!" Kakashi nodded, "Yep, you should be proud, the three of you cute little genin just passed your very first test as official members of team seven. You have all shone, in your own way, that you do have what it takes to become competent ninja. More importantly, you have seen beneath the beneath to the true meaning of this test, you have shown that you are at least capable of that skill that allows Konoha ninja to be called Konoha ninja; teamwork! I suggest that you two thank your friend over there; even if the two of you had managed to obtain a bell by yourselves, I wouldn't have passed you. One of the fundamental shinobi rules basically says that, as a ninja, the completion of your mission is the most important objective. That means that if you have to choose between completing your mission and saving your comrade, you choose to carry on with the mission." Upon seeing Sakura timidly beginning to nod her assent Kakashi's gaze focused into a cold, calculative glare, "Ninja who can't complete their mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

The reactions among the three genin were varied. Sasuke's reaction was about average for him, a simple grunt and narrowed eyes. Sakura looked sheepish as she had been about to agree with a sentiment that her sensei now obviously disapproved of. It was Ryuto's reaction that was the most baffling to the copy ninja. According to his files, the boy would normally respond to this kind of speech in a loud, boastful, and downright inspiring if multiple eyewitnesses were to be trusted. His actual reaction right at that moment was the complete opposite of that. The boy was completely silent, stock still with a poker face to-boot. Anyone not paying attention would've missed the minute, yet instant change in the boy's demeanor. Where once his posture had been screaming confident and self-assured, sagging shoulders and a face hidden in the shadow of his downturned face spoke of nothing but disappointment, dissatisfaction, and underlying currents of far more distressed emotions.

A too wide smile spread across the orphan boy's features, and he asked a simple question,"So that means, we all passed?! Right?!" A nod of confirmation and he was already out of the bindings and jumping around with exaggerated movements as well as yelling at the top of his lungs, "Yatta! I made it! I'm a Ninja! Ninja ninja ninja! Now I'll be able to buy as much Ichiraku's as I can eat!" While Naruto was doing his victory cheer to stay in character, he really did enjoy ramen. It helped with his disguise though and that was what counted. Really, who'd take a ninja that worshipped ramen seriously?

It was almost enough for Kakashi to dismiss his suspicion. Almost. Instead, the jonin made note of it and resolved to do some research on his brand new genin. After all, he'd need to have a more deep understanding of his students if he was going to be teaching them efficiently. _Besides,_ The Copy ninja thought to himself, _I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about that kid isn't right. Looking at his academy records, he's not much more than your average delinquent. Fairly experienced in the more applicable ninja arts while not even trying when it comes to the academic aspects of the curriculum. Constantly skipping class in favor of pranking various teachers with some of the other boys. By all accounts he should be all bark, yet he managed to last a solid couple of hours of strait hand to hand combat, not to mention that shadow clone at the beginning and all of those traps he was constantly utilizing. That shows foresight, something your average delinquent wouldn't normally possess. It's a mystery, one that I am willing got solve._ And so Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan Mirorwheel Eye began to make plans.

Sasuke watched Ryuto jumping around and yelling like he hadn't just been fighting his jonin sensei, with his near-trademark narrowed eyes. Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling that he'd just been used. He was sure that Ryuto could've finished that test by himself, getting one or both of the bells. But he didn't, instead providing a more or less convincing act of teamwork and humility. Sasuke already didn't like the boy, he was too loud, and now that he was trying to manipulate him Sasuke decided that he'd get his revenge for how the boy humiliated him. As Sasuke turned to trudge back to his home, he too began planning.

Sakura, ever the loyal fangirl, completely stopped in her attempt to pound some sense into the brown haired boy and followed close behind the object of her affections, already bombarding the broody boy with bothersome inquiries about his personal life, date requests, and other useless blather.

Kakashi giggled pervertedly in the otherwise silent clearing. As soon as his teammates had stopped paying attention to him, Ryuto abruptly ended his immature celebration and looked toward the ninja with the gravity defying hair, "I don't suppose you've got any ground braking super powerful jutsu for me to work on?" The grown man didn't even pull his nose away from his orange book, "Nope, I prefer to get to know my cute little students before I teach them anything they could accidentally kill themselves with. Speaking off which, since we're alone already why don't you go ahead and tell me what your training regimen is like? I know you've ahd to do more than just the exercises at the academy to be able to fight that well."

Ryuto rubbed the back of his head with a modest smile while on the inside Naruto recalled his more or less true backstory, "Y-yeah, as an orphan I've always had to take care of myself because no one else was going too. I ended up training in my spare time when I joined the academy, if only just to avoid the less savory aspects of this town as much as possible. I didn't say it in front of the others, because every one says it'll never happen, but…" Suddenly Naruto had an idea to try to shake Kakashi's curiosity, "I dream of becoming Hokage, to protect this village, and those who can't protect themselves." It was a lie, and Ryuto hoped that it was convincing enough to dissuade the jonin of any other lines of questioning he had planned. Naruto had learned the tells of a liar early on in his life, and by extension knew what to do when participating in that unsavory sport himself. Truthfully Naruto wanted next to nothing to do with The Village Hidden in the Leaves, but he knew that he wasn't strong enough to fight off the full force of Konoha's hunter ninja and if he was going for that kind of strength he might as well aim for being leader of the village anyway. At least that way he'd be able to make the changes he wanted to see directly without any kind of resistance and, as an additional plus, he'd be able to screw over whoever he wanted(mainly those who'd mistreated his original form). That was one of the tricks that Naruto used when telling lies, he always based them off of a grain of truth.

The ploy seemed to have worked as Ryuto watched Kakashi nod, seemingly pleased with the amount of 'trust' the genin had already developed toward the jonin. With his final words being, "I'm glad we had this talk." Kakashi disappeared in a body-flicker, leaving Ryuto Shota alone in the clearing.

* * *

The following weeks were spent improving squad seven's piss-poor teamwork capabilities. This was accomplished through the performance of many more D-rank missions and actual teamwork exercises than anyone on squad 7 ever cared to remember, during which all other members of squad 7 kept a close eye on one Ryuto Shota. They all held their own reservations about the boy, though they all unknowingly felt one thing among the three of them.

The boy was hiding something. His general image among the populace was that of a boisterous prankster who loved ramen and was rarely ever serious about anything. But, the two genin and their jonin sensei speculated, there were instances where the boy would give off an air of exasperation despite all of his jumping around and hollering. The dual seas that were his eyes would seem to freeze over in an instant, disappearing all together in the blink of an eye. The tiny slip ups happened so fast that the members of squad seven had a difficult time convincing themselves that what they'd seen hadn't been a trick of the light. Individually these instances were unimportant and unconnected, yet as one stepped back and took a look at the bigger picture things began to take a very confusing shape.

So Kakashi scrutinized the boy's unspectacular file in detail. About the only thing that stood out about the boy, on paper that is, was that his paper trail ended exactly on the boy's fifth birthday. The name didn't show up anywhere in the official birth records, and the boy only ever showed up at the hospital for his annual checkups starting about a month after his initial appearance at the orphanage, where he stayed until he entered into the ninja academy, at which point he moved into a small apartment(approved by the hokage) and he's been there ever since. The Copy nin had even gone so far as to conduct a thorough search of the boy's apartment, but aside from the lack of mess and the creepy green full-body jumpsuit(Kakashi shivered) there wasn't anything unusual about the boy's living space. He hadn't been able to find anything out of the ordinary about the brown-haired boy of Squad 7, yet his gut was trying to tell him something and when living in the ninja world you tend to listen to it. As a last resort, the son of The White Fang decided to ask the hokage himself if he knew anything about it. And that is were we find Hatake Kakashi, jonin of Konohagakure and public pervert.

"Excuse me, Lord Hokage." Hiruzen Sarutobi noted to himself that Kakashi wasn't reading his little orange book that he carried with him everywhere, "What is it Kakashi? It's been some time since the team assignments, how are you finding your team?" The Copy ninja was caught slightly off guard, it was like the sandaime already knew what he'd come for, but he was still able to speak with only the slightest bit of hesitation, "Sir, I fear that one of my genin is not who he seems." The leader of the village was not impressed, "There are many who would attest, simply by looking at me, that I were nothing but a harmless old man. But am I a harmless old man?" Inside, Kakashi winced at his oversimplification, though he didn't give a twitch as he elaborated, "Whenever I look at the boy, I feel like he's hiding something important. You know as well as I that trust is an essential element of teamwork, but it's more than that. He seems to be suppressing parts of his personality that shine through every now and again. His chakra pool and stamina are immense, more so than any genin has a right to have, heck the sheer amount that the boy possesses would even make some jonin jealous. But that's not all I've found suspicious. I read his file, and I noticed something very peculiar." The Hokage raised an eyebrow, "Oh?" Kakashi nodded before continuing, "It's about his record. We don't have any information on him before his fifth recorded birthday. It's like he just appeared out of nowhere."

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe, blowing out a large cloud of smoke before he stared his jonin in the eye, "I understand your concern on the matter, but I order you to cease in your investigation. You will also refrain from speaking of your suspicions to anyone. I know of who you speak, and I know that he is no threat to Konoha. That is all you need to know. Dismissed." Kakashi wanted to object, but it was obvious that the Hokage had ended the conversation. It was with heavy heart and a tired sigh, that Kakashi trudged out of Hiruzen Sarutobi's office.

* * *

At the same time that the silver haired jonin sensei was speaking to the hokage, Ryuto shota could be seen walking up to his apartment. The members of team seven had gone there separate ways as soon as they'd been dismissed, after all there was no reason to stay. Ryuto himself was quite displeased with the way ninja life had turned out. He'd at least expected to maintain at least a shred of his dignity as a ninja, _But,_ _I guess just wasn't in the cards._ The boy sighed, _It came as an honest to goodness surprise_ _that I'd be spending the official beginning of my ninja career doing manual labor for cheap._ Ryuto let out another sigh as he reached the floor his apartment was on, _If it weren't for the shadow clones, I'd still be tooling around with the basics waiting for that good-for-nothing Kakashi to teach us_ _something beyond simple teamwork exercises. Speaking of shadow clones, I wonder how that one I left to study that book on elemental affinities is doing._

Just inside the closed door, Naruto shed his disguise and stared into the mirror, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto." Ritual complete, Naruto made his way into his small kitchen and stumbled upon something he did not expect. Naruto stared at himself, passed out with his face firmly planted in the aforementioned book detailing the process of discovering and developing elemental affinities. The Naruto sitting at the table snored softly as the original watched, still in stunned shock. The boy then shook his head to restart his brain and shook the clone softly on the shoulder, "Hey, wake up." The clone slowly cracked his eyes open, obviously still mostly asleep, "Huh? Wily Kat, what're you doing here?" One low level water jutsu later and the clone was suddenly feeling much more awake, "Okay, I needed that."

"Now," The original began sensibly, "Tell me what happened, unless you want me to pop you now?" The clone shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever's better, I am you after all." Naruto nodded, "True, in that case…" The clone dodged under Naruto's fist, and a seal-less substitution had the clone standing behind the original, but before he could take action Naruto was already striking him with an elbow and the clone was just able to roll with the blow so as not to receive the brunt of the attack while at the same time lashing out with his own fist. Naruto used his already outstretched elbow to bat the fist aside while also extending his same fist as the other one also whipped forward at rapid speeds.

The clone disappeared in a cloud of thick chakra smoke. Naruto breathed a slight sigh as he turned to comb through the clone's memories… Which weren't actually there. Naruto spun on his heel to block a kick he was sure was headed for him to find nothing but thin air. A cry of "Fooled ya!" Rang out as the clone dropped from the ceiling, nailing his creator right between the ears.

As Naruto peeled his body off of his kitchen floor, he spoke with grudging respect, "I guess I've lost to you." The clone crossed his arms with a smirk, "Yeah, but you would've had me with that double fist counter if I hadn't planned for that." The blonde raised an eyebrow, "Is that how you fooled me? I'm still not quite sure what it was you actually did to make all that smoke, it was just like whenever one of you disperses." The clone winked at his creator before dispelling himself for real.

Naruto's sky blue eyes widened in realization before a wicked smile spread across his face, "Genius."

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I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Want to tell me what you think so far, ask me any questions you have, or just let me know I'm awesome? You can do all of that and more! By writing a review! I don't care if you're a new reader or one who's been with me since the beginning, I love reviews! Chow!


	7. (Un)Lucky Team Seven

Hi everybody!

As you can see there's a new chapter!

Let the reading begin!

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Ever since the Hokage revealed that he did in fact know Ryuto's true identity, Naruto hadn't since been the least bit comfortable in the old man's presence. He couldn't understand why the leader of the village had decided to allow him to continue his ninja career, even though any logical person's first instinct would be to brand him as a potential spy and kick his bucket for him. _But instead of ratting me out like a normal person would, the old man just smirks at me like we're apart of some conspiracy. It's not like I don't appreciate it or anything but I just don't get it. Ah, crap! He's doing it now, too!_

Currently, Ryuto and the rest of team seven stood at attention in the Hokage's office as, following an outburst from the boy himself and a lecture on mission rankings, the old man actually gave them a C rank protection detail. The gist of the assignment was that they were going to be protecting some bridge builder on his way back to the Land of Waves and while he finished the construction of a bridge that would connect the small country to the main land.

When the genin were told that the entire mission would be taking roughly a month's time Ryuto sent a prayer of thanks to whatever supernatural beings were looking after him that one of his shadow clones had stumbled upon everything he needed to disguise himself without the use of a henge long ago. Immediately after the discovery slightly less than a month prior to the current situation Naruto(as well as his shadow clones) spent as much of his free time as possible researching the techniques and procedures required to properly don a proper long-lasting disguise. He'd spent the first week learning everything he found relevant to his specific disguise while the later weeks had been spent polishing and practicing those skills as well as acclimating to the feeling of actually wearing a second skin.

So when Kakashi told them they had an hour to pack for the trip Ryuto didn't hesitate to send off a copious amount of disguised shadow clones to gather the needed materials for maintaining the farce throughout the mission and then some, after all, it never hurt anyone to be prepared. Over the course of that one hour the cosmetics stores of Konoha no gakure were swarmed and stripped bare by happy-go-lucky young girls just starting to blossom into the beginnings of womanhood wanting to look their best for some reason or another.

* * *

It was Sakura who spotted Ryuto ambling down the road an hour late(Yet still earlier than Kakashi).

The pinkeye shook her fist as she shouted at the boy in the distance, "Ryuto!" The only response that the prepubescent girl received was an excited wave as the brunette continued his leisurely jog toward his teammates, "Where were you?! Sasuke and I've been waiting for like an hour! And what's up with that tiny bag? We're supposed to be gone a month! there better not be only ramen in there!" As Sakura continued to scream at the boy in the distance Sasuke briefly wondered if he should point out that Ryuto probably couldn't hear her(or didn't care) judging by the way he kept waving as he ran, but the last Uchiha decided against it reasoning that if his pink haired teammate couldn't deduce such an obvious fact then she wasn't worth the effort anyway.

As the soul female on team seven paused in her historical screaming, she noticed that Ryuto was finally nearing their position by the front gate and realized just how fast the boy was moving(if only by the ten feet of dirt rising behind him) and it didn't look like he was slowing down. A sudden thought pierced through the haze of anger that dampened Sakura's senses, _Why was he late_ anyways?

It was at that point that Ryuto raced over and skidded to a halt in front of the other two members of team seven, "Hey guys, sorry I'm late, you will not believe how long the grocery store lines are at this time of day. I mean, yeah it took a bit of searching to sniff out all of their stocks of instant ramen but still, 50 different stores and not one of them had a line less than four shoppers long!" Ryuto paused to make sure that his teammates understood the problem with that. They didn't.

During that pause in dialogue Sakura tried to explode, "You mean to tell me that you were late be-!" Before she was interrupted as Ryuto aired an essential question, "Hey, where's Kakashi?" To which he was answered by the appearance of their jonin sensei and client via shun shin, "Right here. Oh, good to see all of you are here too." Well then, let's move out." At that point Sakura didn't know who she should be more mad at so she just settled for everybody except for Sasuke because Sasuke isn't just anybody(He's Sasuke).

"You people drive me CRAZY!" The irate Kunoichi was met with silence and the backs of her teammates, sensei, and client as Ryuto casually called back to her, "At least your up there with the elite ninja in that regard." As Ryuto casually ignored his teammate's rant he thought back to why he actually was late, _Man, if that powdered hair coloring took an hour to set in then I'm glad I didn't get that permanent hair die. Not only would it not wash out, who knows how long it would have taken to dry, and don't get me started on how often I'd need to reapply._ That thought completed, Ryuto took in his surroundings and let it sink in that he was really outside of the village. A smile creeped onto the boy's face, and both Kakashi and Sasuke swore that the boy was actually glowing.

Kakashi sighed as he whipped out his favorite book, _I wish I_ _could've become a man at that age, though I do wonder who it was that actually did the deed with him._ It was with perverted thoughts such as this that Team Seven began their journey and their first C rank mission.

* * *

Team Seven's first day outside of Konoha came and went, completely uneventful. As the group set up for the night the crickets sang, the wind howled, and the genin grumbled about sore feet. Well, Sakura was the one grumbling. Sasuke decided that it wasn't worth it to complain about his aching feet, instead settling down in the shadows of a tree, near enough for his presence to be known, yet still maintaining an air of distance and mystery. Kakashi read his porn while discreetly overseeing everything. The old bridge builder, Tazuna, looked on in amazement as Ryuto moved and set up the campsite quickly and efficiently, pitching the tents with a practiced hand, lighting a fire with an ample supply of friction, even going so far as to set up a suspended skewer with a pheasant already caught, feathered, and cooking.

Tazuna whistled in appreciation, "Damn son, if I'd've blinked I would've missed it. How'd you learn to camp so good?" A flicker of some kind of emotion appeared in Ryuto's eye, but it was gone in an instant as Ryuto's face creased in a wide grin, "Really? You think I'm good? Yahoo! Those extra camping classes payed off!"

Sakura glanced over, ready to yell at the 'brunette' to be quiet, when the words died in her throat as she finally noticed that the camp was indeed set up. Though one detail stuck out to the girl, "Hey, Ryuto-baka!" The boy stopped in the middle of his achievement dance to look at his pink haired teammate, "What's up, Pink Fury?" Sakura ground her teeth as she fought the urge to pummel the boy, as it was his habit to attach ridiculous nick-names to his teammates. Sakura pointed at the sizzling bird, and with a great effort, kept herself from screaming in anger, "When did you have time to go hunting?" Ryuto responded with an even tone and a blank face, "You'd be surprised what the world is willing to throw at a man while he answers the call of nature." It took the kunoichi of the team a moment to process the sagely nods of ascension from all of the males present before she exploded in rage, literally flying at her teammate in a pink fury, "WHY YOU IDIOT!" Ryuto made a show of dodging the feminine fury by only a hair, "Ah! Emo Fury! I need your help!"

An air of killing intent wafted off of Sasuke as his frown deepened and the upper half of his face was obscured by shadows and his bangs as Sasuke answered the disguised blonde's cry for help, "…No." As Ryuto ducked under the Pink Fury's fist he turned toward the cyclopes reading his porn, "No! Emo Fury has betrayed me! C'mon you have to help me, Pervert Fury! Only those worse than trash abandon their comrades, right? Right?!" The Copy Ninja Kakashi turned the page as he eye-smiled, "Only those worse than trash try to drag their comrades into the line of sight of feminine fury, or, in this case, Pink Fury." As Ryuto jumped back to make some space, he reached into his weapon pouch, "I had hoped that I wouldn't have to use this so soon, but you've forced my hand!" Time seemed to slow down for everyone in that clearing as they tracked the red projectile's trajectory through the air.

Somewhere in a basement across the multiverse a d20 was cast, immediately followed by cheering as the one who'd thrown the die cheered, "Natural 20!"

The blur of red struck Sakura dead in the face. No one else moved as the girl licked a bit of the now mush from around her mouth, immediately recognizing the flavor, "Tomato? I hate tomatoes!" In a blur of movement Sakura was on her back with Sasuke on top of her, a crazy look in his eye. Normally an Uchiha fangirl would kill to be in that sort of position with the object of their desires except for the amount of killing intent pouring off of the boy. It was nothing to Kakashi who'd experienced far worse countless times, but the inexperienced girl shook uncontrollably as the invisible pressure pushed down on her. Sasuke leaned down so that his mouth was right next to Sakura's ear as he spoke in little more than a whisper, "What did you say?" The girl struggled to answer through her chattering teeth, "I-i-i-i-i, I s-s-said I h-hat-t-te t-t-t-t-tom-m-mat-toes-s-s-s." And then Sasuke smiled. It was a creepy thing that shouldn't have existed and Naruto suddenly wished he could turn off his photographic memory. Everyone watched as he spoke in the same unnaturally sweet whisper even as he lifted his hand past his shoulder, "Just checking." With that said, the last Uchiha backhanded the pinkette. As he raised his hand for another swing, Sasuke was stopped.

The black haired boy turned to see that it was Ryuto who was keeping him from punishing the blasphemer for her crimes, "Let go." Ryuto didn't, "That's enough Sasuke, I don't want anyone to get hurt. It's not your fight." The last Uchiha's angry gaze bored into the disguised blonde, "Let go." When Ryuto shook his head Sasuke contorted while pulling his arm as he tried to twist his teammate's arm into a restraining lock while Ryuto did the same. Among the twisted cacophony of limbs and clothed flesh, a hand reached into a weapon pouch and drew forth another tomato. The red orb was launched into the air and as soon as Sasuke saw the fruit tumbling out of the sky, he broke away from the other boy and caught the juicy tomato before it's smooth surface could be marred by the dirt and rocks on the ground. The group watched in bewilderment as Sasuke curled around the tomato making cooing sounds that were suspiciously similar to the words, "My precious", before Sasuke stood up proudly and turned to make his way back to his previous spot.

Kakashi sighed as he flipped the page, _If they don't pull together somehow they're gonna end up dead a lot sooner than later._ The Copy Ninja's gaze lazily passed over the genin team. Sakura was in a sort of daze as she stared of into space, the ugly purple coloration of a bruise just visible underneath the tomato paste on the girl's swelling cheek. Sasuke was being even broodier than normal and sending death glares at both of his teammates even as he raised the tomato to his lips. As the grey haired jonin's gaze wandered toward his third student's direction Kakashi only saw the genin's back as he trudged out of the campsite, his parting words being, "I'm taking first watch."

As soon as he was out of his team's direct line of sight Ryuto summoned a half-dozen shadow clones to make up a defensive perimeter around the camp even as he moved deeper into the forest, his eyes and nose both alert for specific signs as the disguised blonde began his search.

It was just as the sun was beginning to rise above the horizon that Ryuto returned to camp, a few leaves clutched in his fist. "You know, Ryuto, you didn't have to stay out there the whole night. You could have easily asked any of us to relieve you." The boy nodded as he sat down next to Kakashi and pulled out a small grinding stone, "I had stuff to do." The jonin nodded, he recognized the leaves the boy was grinding into paste, "You know, most people give flowers to the girl they like." The boy shook his head and replied evenly, not taking his eyes off of his work, "This is more of an apology gift than anything of a romantic nature." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the boy's uncharacteristic seriousness, "Besides, could you really imagine me hooking up with a chick like Pink Fury and surviving to tell the tale?" And then he was back to his regular goofy self. The jonin shook his head, though not at his student's question. Ryuto didn't regularly have moments like this but they happened enough to peak Kakashi's interest, but with the order from the hokage not to look into it Kakashi would have to figure out a way to get his student to open up about whatever it was that was causing him to act like that. "Huh, speak of the devil, here she comes."

Ryuto turned to see that Sakura had indeed just exited her tent, thankfully no trace of the tomato left on the girl's face. That also meant that Ryuto had an unadulterated view of just how hard Sasuke had hit her, the edge of her cheek started out blue and just got darker from there on until the skin had actually turned black at the sight of impact. "Sakura." The girl's eyes were possessed of a far away glassy look and as she turned to face the boy he could tell that she wasn't really looking at him. Ryuto stood up and pressed the poultice he'd concocted into the pinkette's hands, his eyes staring deep into hers, "This is for your bruise." And with that the boy turned on his heel and skewered the rabbit he'd caught and prepared the night before in order to make breakfast and the smells that wafted from the fire were enough to bring even Sasuke from the depths of his tent. That morning the traveling party ate in silence.

* * *

The sun shined, the sky was clear, the birds were even singing. It seemed to Tazuna that the world was laughing at the group's somber atmosphere. He turned a pitying gaze at the pink haired ninja as she applied the green mush to her bruised face for the twelfth time that day. _Ninja sure are hardcore. If these leaf ninja beat each other up over a fruit what would they do to an enemy threatening the success of their mission?_ The bridge builder should have felt reassured by this but in truth it only worried him, _What'll they do when they find out I lied?_ The old man took a swig of his alcohol as he peered fearfully at the indifferent Uchiha and then switched to the now serious orphan, _Heck, what kind of person would unleash that kind of fury on their own teammate? He did throw the tomato so he must've known what was going to happen, right?_ Before he could continue thinking, Tazuna was knocked out of his thoughts when someone spoke in a voice that sent a shiver down his old spine.

"One down."

* * *

What'd you think? Was it weird? Funny? Sasuke's a prick? Let me know with a review!

And don't worry more action next chapter.


	8. Ate the Dust

Hey guys, sorry for the wait but this chapter is pretty action packed so I hope you like it.

On with the reading!

* * *

It happened quicker than the genin team could react, the clinking chain, the ripping sound, the attacker's intimidating voice. Sakura screamed, and as the two demons rushed toward Ryuto, their iron claws extended and ready to kill, the disguised boy jump started himself into action. With one hand Naruto hurled a smoke bomb of his own creation at the ground in front of the demons while the other pulled a pre-primed explosive kunai from his pouch, sending it flying immediately behind the smoke bomb. Immediately after that Ryuto tore through a small set of hand signs at a blinding speed before slamming his hands into the ground as he molded his chakra into the uncomfortable aspect of earth. A wall of mud sprung forth from the dirt path just before the twin bangs of the smoke and lethal explosions sounded.

Bright orange smoke poured into the sky, and Naruto was grateful to the clone that had thought up that particular maneuver. Just as he turned to help Sasuke off his butt (he'd already been in motion when Ryuto's jutsu had finished) a metal claw tore straight through the wall right next to Ryuto's head. As the barrier of wet dirt crumbled to the ground, the two men Ryuto had mistakenly thought of as demons were revealed to be relatively unharmed with the exception of their watering eyes and now completely orange outfits. Ryuto eyed their respirators and decided he needed to find himself one to call his own, it was because of those pieces of equipment that the two men had been spared from the main effect of the highly concentrated chili powder packed into that smoke bomb.

Sasuke rushed past Ryuto as the two mist ninja prepared to launch their chain a second time. As the Sasuke leaped into the air, deftly flicking his own ninja tools through the air to pin down the chain Ryuto charged straight under his teammate, a fist already reared back in preparation for a punch. The mist ninja's watering eyes widened in shock, even as he'd been raising his arm to block a fist he felt a foot slam into his side instead, followed up by a swift elbow, and surprisingly, a headbutt that dented his respirator and broke his nose. As the younger of the Demon Brothers stumbled backwards from the barrage of blows he looked up as the shining sun was obscured by the bottom of the apparent brunette's sandal.

Ryuto flipped off of his opponent's face and turned away from the ninja's crumpled body just in time to see his dark haired teammate complete a stream of combos that ended with the ninja skidding away, flat on his back.

"Wow Dusty, overkill much?"

"Shut up Ryuto! You're lucky I didn't do the same to you for disgracing the honor of The Holy Red Fruit."

"Uh, Sasuke. That wasn't me." Sasuke opened his eyes and sure enough Ryuto was standing right in his line of sight, so who was it behind him?

The dark haired Uchiha whipped around and caught a face full of Kakashi eye-smiling, "Yo!" The man was still reading his little orange book, he didn't look ruffled at all. Ryuto didn't need to look to know about the log lying on the ground in pieces as he pointed at his sensei, "You used Substitution! And a genjutsu to make it look like you'd died! You copied me!"

The cyclopes replied in a merry tone, "Well, they don't call me the Copy ninja for nothing." Ryuto sighed and Kakashi shifted into serious mode, "What I think we should really be focused on is why these missing-nins attacked in the first place. These guys are the demon brothers of the hidden mist, thankfully they weren't very strong but missing-nin don't just attack without reason, it would be like wearing a sign telling any bounty hunters to come and get it. No, someone payed them." Naruto noticed the bridge builder's grip tightening on his bottle of booze as the silver haired sense continued, "I couldn't be the target, only an idiot wouldn't send a high level ninja to deal with another. My students are all too insignificant for anyone to find it worth the money to hire any kind of assassin too. So that leaves," Kakashi trailed off dramatically as he watched Tazuna squirm under his knowing gaze, "You."

Before Sakura could even begin to ask the million ryo question, the bridge builder broke into tears as he flung himself into the dirt at the jonin's feet, "Please! I beg of you, don't leave! My country needs you! Wave is a trading country that makes it's money from shipping goods out into the other elemental nations, but ever since Gato arrived and bought everything out-!"

"I don't care!"

Tazuna startled into silence, staring at the boy the outburst of slight killing intent and anger had come from. Sasuke clenched his fists, anger and determination burning in his obsidian eyes, "You think that just because some missing ninja showed up we're gonna back down? Don't insult me, things are just starting to get interesting." At the end of his short speech Sasuke struck a pose and whipped his bangs out of his face. Sakura cheered.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke with a dead look in his eyes, "Look Sasuke, I know you're confident and all but this mission isn't a C rank anymore, it's a solid B rank. It would make more sense to go back to the village and send out a more qualified team of jonin and chunin."

Ryuto snorted before makin his opinion known, "Dude, this is what we trained for. We'll work together to overcome anything and everything. And even if we can't, you said it yourself, they don't call you the Copy ninja for nothing. We'll be fine on our own and going back to the village would only be wasting out precious time. Think of it this way, the sooner we get the job done the sooner we can leave and all be safe."

The genin and bridge builder all watched with baited breath as they waited for the cyclopes' final decision, "I'm proud of you for deciding to continue on as a team." With that final statement there was a collective sigh before the group set off once more, with eyes and ears open. The silver haired sensei eye smiled to himself as he read his favorite book, _"Another perfect performance from one Hatake Kakashi."_

* * *

After that first encounter, the party of ninja hadn't had any more trouble getting to the boatsman who would be smuggling them into Wave. They didn't speak much during that time, instead opting for a sort of alert silence. Though Sakura was smiling once more that was of little concern to Ryuto as about halfway through what was left of the first part of their journey, Tazuna decided that the ninja needed to hear the sob story of his country and was just finishing up by the time the group had arrived at the edge of the large body of water two days later.

As Ryuto was silently giving thanks that he'd applied the hair coloring that needed hot water to wash out someone spoke to him, effectively knocking the boy out of his thoughts, "Hm? Say something?"

Kakashi nodded, unperturbed by the boy's spot on imitation, "Yes, I was just asking where you learned that jutsu you used when the demon brothers attacked." Ryuto nodded, he was expecting someone to ask him about that. Out of the corner of his eye Ryuto saw Sasuke glaring at him curiously and even Sakura was paying attention to the conversation. Smoothly, the disguised boy's face morphed into a wide grin as he spoke his well rehearsed words, "It's surprising what you can find at the ninja library, Kakashi-sensei."

The Copy non nodded, "Is that so?" The boy only nodded, tuning out of the conversation as Sakura started talking. _"This mist, something about it is off. It's too thick, perfect for an ambush."_ Ryuto strained his ears listening for any sounds out of the ordinary, even going so far as to focus his chakra into the hearing organs only to immediately stop at the increased volume of the nearby voice of his pink haired teammate. Ryuto leaned back casually against the wall of the small boat, _"Okay then, time for some recon."_ As Ryuto outwardly appeared as if he were relaxing, if one were to look at his chakra system they would see the boy molding his energies in the same way that they moved when creating shadow clones.

Underneath the surface of the small canal the boat was floating through there were two poofs, one after another, and out of the quickly dispersed chakra smoke swam a small fish, " _Good thing shadow clones don't need to breath."_ Thought Naruto. The fake brunette allowed his consciousness to wander, they still had a ways to go before they'd be switching back to traveling on foot.

* * *

Naruto was worried.

They'd left the boatman about an hour before and the boy could swear that the mist was getting thicker. Just as Ryuto was about to say something his clone dispelling abruptly alerted him to the immediate danger.

"Get down!"

Ryuto was already tackling Tazuna out of the way even as the words left Kakashi's mouth, and he already had a kunai flying at the man sitting atop of the giant sword imbedded in the tree across the way. The tall man snatched the kunai right out of the air without effort even as he ignored the boy, "Well, no wonder the Demon Brothers flailed their mission. They were up against the famous Sharingan Kakashi."

"Well, if it isn't Momochi Zabuza, missing nin of the hidden mist."

"Yeah, and I got a job to do. I'm here for the old man."

At the mention of the bridge builder the three genin placed themselves in a defensive formation around Tazuna. Kakashi's only move was to shift his hitai-ate so that it wasn't covering his left eye, "Fine. Looks like for this fight I'll need this."

In a blur of movement Zabuza had moved from his perch atop his sword to a position on the lake just at the end of the clearing. Sakura expressed her amazement vocally, "He's over there! Standing on the water!" The Copy nin stared with his sharingan eye and Ryuto stared as well, their eyes never leaving the enemy. The missing ninja stood with one arm bent, the other pointed toward the sky, as the water swirled to life, thickening and stretching into a dense mist. A wayward leaf landed on the water's surface, and the ninja standing upon that very same surface disappeared into the growing mist.

Que Sakura, "He disappeared!"

"Zabuza is a master of the silent killing technique, it happens so fast you pass on into the next life before you're even aware of the pain, so all of you stay on your guard. On the brighter side of things, if we don't win the only thing we lose is our lives."

"How can you say that?!"

Nobody answered.

The ninja stood, tense, as the mist grew thicker and thicker, so much so that even Kakashi was out of sight. The silence grew as they waited for something, anything to happen.

"Eight points." Ryuto would have liked to have said that he didn't jump at the sound of the deadly missing nin's voice, _But,_ He reconciled himself, _At least the others are scared too._

"Larynx." Sasuke gulped and the sound echoed with the disembodied voice.

"Spine." A bead of nervous sweat slid down Ryuto's face.

"Lungs." Tazuna shook in his boots.

"Liver." Sakura licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry.

"Jugular." If Sasuke gripped that kunai any harder there'd be an imprint on his hand.

"Subclavian arterie." The pinkette wondered if she'd live long enough to beat Ino in the race for Sasuke.

"Kidneys." The bridge builder yearned for his bottle but didn't want to distract the ones responsible for his safety.

"Heart." Ryuto gritted his teeth, _To hell with keeping a low profile! If I have to I'll use everything at my disposal!_

"Now, which will I use today?"

Suddenly, the white haired jonin brought his hands together and blew the mist away with pure chakra. Glancing to the right, Ryuto noticed his dark haired teammate freaking out. The disguised boy felt the killing intent crowding around him, though he wondered why Sasuke was taking it so much worse than him. Just as Ryuto was about to say something, Kakashi beat him to the punch, "Calm down Sasuke. I will protect you with my life. All of you." The Copy nin paused a moment, as if he were remembering something, "I will not allow my comrades to die. Trust me."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Ryuto spun on his heel, _That voice, how did he get behind me!_ It was in fact Zabuza, standing right in-between the three genin in a ridiculously cool pose. "It's over." Time seemed to stop as the missing nin moved to decapitate the bridge builder.

"Like hell it is!"

…And promptly burst into water. Ryuto didn't stop moving as he flitted through a quick set of hand seals, spinning around just in time to spit a garbage truck sized fireball in the face of another Zabuza who evaporated into steam. It took a moment before anyone could see clearly again. "Hm, the brat's better than I thought. Too bad water clone's only have a tenth of their user's strength." In a blur of movement Zabuza had Ryuto by his brown hair, a knife at the boy's neck, "Ha, so much for not letting your comrades die, Kakashi of the Sharingan." Kakashi moved to stop the ninja but was stopped himself when he caught sight of his student's smirk. A slight fizzing sound was all the warning the Copy nin needed as he quickly grabbed the bridge builder and his two other genin. A second later the earth shuddered.

 **BOOOM!**

Sakura shook her head in an attempt to rid it of the ringing noise before she tried to speak, "W-what? D-did he just-? Did Ryuto-?" Sakura's voice caught, she couldn't say it. Ryuto had blown himself up. _To get a blast that big he must've used at least ten explosive tags._ The pinkette looked to her jonin sensei in confusion, "Kakashi… There was no way either of them could've survived that." The Copy Nin hung his head slightly before snapping back to attention, "No, get back in position. This isn't over."

"Wha? What do you mean? Ryuto's dead! So is Zabuza! There's no way either of them could've survived that explosion! They were literally at the epicenter!" Kakashi shook his head, "Ryuto may be gone but we still have to deal with Zabuza. No jonin who's earned their rank would get caught in that kind of attack, he's survived too many battles where every other person does the same thing with their dying breath."

"Heheheh, that's one brat out of the picture. So much for not letting your comrades die, eh ,Kakashi?" The white haired ninja stood completely still as he stared at Zabuza, a dead look in his eyes. He took a step forward, his sharingan eye spinning, before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. The mist ninja's eyes widened slightly before he pulled his massive sword from his back and disappeared in a burst of speed, the only sign of his passage being the ten foot tall tower of water sent in the other direction.

They met at the center of the clearing, Zabuza's sword already moving to bisect the Copy Nin. Kakashi dodged over the blade, sending his own kunai down to imbed itself into the eyebrow-less ninja's arm that held the now embedded sword. The ex-mist ninja released his weapon and launched his own knife at Kakashi who dodged past liberally. The white haired ninja had just enough time for his eyes to widen marginally as he was caught by Zabuza's foot and sent flying toward the lake. The leaf nin was able to twist enough to dive into the water just before he resurfaced a moment later.

"What's up with this water? It feels heavy for some reason!" Zabuza leered over Kakashi just as he finished his technique, "Idiot. **Water style: Water prison** **jutsu!"** The water from the lake swirled and engulfed the white haired ninja in a ball of water, with Zabuza's hand sticking in. With the other hand, the missing nin made a sign and another water clone, "With that brat out of the way, I'll only need one to take care of the rest. Hehe, your confidence was your downfall, Kakashi of the Sharingan."

Sakura screamed as she ran toward him, "Kakashi sensei!"

"No, Sakura! You have to run! Zabuza is using much of his power to keep me here! His clone can only go a certain distance away from him so if you guys run you'll still be able to make it!" Sasuke smirked to hide his fear, _Yeah, but even if it is just a clone he'd catch us before we could take ten steps. Ryuto may have been able to kill two but he isn't with us anymore. Damn it! how far ahead of me is_ he? Sasuke clenched his heath, _No, our only option is to free Kakashi from that water prison._ The dark haired boy glanced at his remaining teammate who was only a thread away from hysteria, _Looks like that responsibility falls to me, not that I didn't expect it to._ The last Uchiha continued to ponder their predicament as Zabuza continued to monologue, _It seems he has to have his arm in the water to keep his jutsu running. So if I want to stop it, I have to make him move._ A glance at the clone, _No way am I going to be able to plow through him. But, maybe a distraction will work?_

As the ex-mist nin concluded his monologue Sasuke took a deep breath, _Okay, it's now or never!_ With that mental declaration Sasuke charged strait at the water clone, launching volley after volley of shuriken at the clone. As he blocked the flying edged weapons, Sasuke chucked a smoke bomb as he prepared himself and began a set of hand signs that his teammate had performed. Just as the smoke cleared the boy was ready, and not a moment too soon. Sasuke found it slightly satisfying to see the clone's eyes widen just in time to receive a face full of fire about the same size as Ryuto's.

Out of the large cloud of smoke, dust, and steam shot Sasuke on a beeline towards Zabuza. The boy meant to surprise the ninja as he put on a burst of speed, launching himself into the air. But the eyebrowless ninja wasn't having it as he simply snatched the genin's fist out of the air. Just as Zabuza was about to crush Sasuke's hand, something burst out of the water right behind the missing nin screaming the name of the technique that would strike fear into the heart of even the most battle hardened warrior.

"Leaf village secret finger jutsu!" Time seemed to stop as the universe itself gave a shudder.

 **"ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!"**

* * *

So? What did you think? What was your reaction to Ryuto's death? First one to let me know gets bragging rights.

I gotta get started on the next chapter so peace out and peace off!


	9. Nine Tales

Hi everybody!

Just wanted to let you all know, bragging rights go to…

~ **LordGhostStriker** ~

Feel free to check out this guy's profile page, there are a lot of cool stories in the favorites column. What can I say, they've got great taste!

Sorry about how long it took to finally update, but I had wanted to do something a bit special with this chapter.

Inspired be the name, Nine Tales, I decided to split this chapter into nine sections, each one set into the viewpoint of a different character.

Let me know what you think! Now onto the story!

* * *

Zabuza was having a bad day.

When it started the missing nin had only been slightly annoyed that the Demon Brothers had failed, and the waffles he'd had for breakfast had gone a long way toward brightening his mood. After all, he enjoyed the work he did to raise money to take down the Suikage. Then Hatake Kakashi shows up, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Against an opponent like that Zabuza could really cut loose like he hadn't been able to for quite a while. Then that brunette brat had gotten in the way and Zabuza had gone through all that trouble of some extra water clones just in time for the kid to blow himself to smithereens! He didn't even have the decency to leave any blood splatters. Then after that Kakashi turned out to be a dud anyway, getting captured after only a few blows. So the tall swordsman sighed inwardly as his water clone was avoided as the dark haired pretty boy moved to free his sensei. Nothing to worry about, he wasn't even half as skilled as that other brat. And then the other brat returned and speared the grown man in a place where the light doesn't shine, his chakra reinforced fingers launching Zabuza easily a hundred feet away farther into the lake.

The swordsman of the mist clutched his violated behind in pain as he struggled to even remain on the surface of the water. Kakashi stood up and rubbed the brown haired boy's head affectionately, "Nice work Ryuto, and you to Sasuke." The dark haired Uchiha splashed into the water even as his teammate landed softly on the surface. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the scene before turning his attention to the slowly recovering assassin. The silver haired sensei began a long sequence of hand signs, "It's over Zabuza, we've got you beat."

The water surged and a huge wave formed, washing the missing nin back onto the shore, just in time to be impaled through both his arms and legs. Ryuto turned to cheer at Kakashi, but the man was no longer standing on the water. "You're finished." The boy turned to look in the direction his jonin sensei's voice had originated from, _Huh? How'd he get over there so fast?_ Kakashi stood on a tree limb directly above Zabuza, preparing the final blow that would end the man's life, when two senbon acupuncture needles impaled the missing nin clean through his neck. The look of shock was evident on the ex-mist ninja's face just before he slumped over.

An effeminate chuckle turned everyone's attention toward a character that none of them had noticed, "You were right, he was finished." Kakashi glanced at the symbol carved into the forehead of the mask, before he relaxed, _Well, it's as good a time ass ever for a mist ninja to show up. Still_ _…_ Kakashi hopped down from his perch on the tree and spoke as he examined the body, "You could've hopped in any time, you know." The mist nin chuckled once more as the silver haired leaf nin stepped back from examining the body, "It looked like your student was watching out for you already." With those parting words the masked ninja lifted Zabuza's limp body onto his shoulder, made a hand sign, and disappeared in a cloud of mist.

Ryuto had made it just far enough that Sasuke wouldn't have to swim before dropping the Uchiha into the lake, "Shunshin, huh?" The boy shrugged, "Minus points for lack of originality, though the mist added a certain kind of mysterious allure. All in all I'd give him an eight on overall performance." Sakura's face contorted into a look that Naruto couldn't interpret before her mouth opened, "Why. YOU. _IDIOT!_ Who do you think you are almost blowing yourself up like that!?"

Naruto smoothly dodged the pinkette's flying shuriken, a sarcastic smile on his face, "Geez Sakura! I'd be touched at you worrying for my well being if you weren't trying to kill me yourself." That only fanned the girls flame (Of Youth!) as she screamed something unintelligible about teamwork and charged the disguised blond.

Sasuke clenched his fists as he watched his not-so idiotic teammate dance around his pink haired one as she tried and failed to impale him on her fists, _I couldn't even touch Zabuza, yet he sent him flying._ _How far ahead of me is he? How can I even hope to kill Itachi if even the dead last can show me up?_ _How has improved so much in so little time?_ _That led Sasuke to a question that he hadn't expected from himself, "Unless he was holding back all throughout the academy? Hm_ _… That settles it, Ryuto, we're going to have a spar._

The most eventful thing to happen after their encounter with Zabuza that day was when Tazuna opened the door to his house.

* * *

Haku wasn't sure what to think.

On the one hand, Kakashi was a devastating opponent especially with his sharingan eye. On the other hand, however, there was something about that boy that made Haku want to avoid fighting him at all costs. _Perhaps it is that last technique of his that worries me so,_ The effeminate boy mused, _With it he was able to incapacitate Zabuza-sama in one hit. I didn't even notice him underneath the surface of the water._ Haku sighed as he continued to pick the herbs that his master would need to recover quickly. He was starting to wonder if the job he and Zabuza had taken was really worth all the trouble that it was shaping up to be. Kakashi of the Sharingan might have been a powerful opponent but they knew about him, _That boy, on the other hand, is an_ _anomaly. We know nothing of his true power._ Haku smiled daintily as a plan of action came to mind, _I suppose I shall have to change_ _that._

The dark haired ninja sighed as he plucked yet another plant. It would be awhile before Zabuza would awaken and without him it would be suicide to confront the bridge builder's guards. So Haku turned his full attention toward sorting through the patch of wild flowers in front of him, determined to nurse his master back to health.

* * *

Tsunami was full of hope.

Her father had returned safe and sound. At first she'd been embarrassed that she'd acted so unreserved in front of the honorable ninja, but the tall silver haired one had put her at ease with a few kind words. Wanting to make up for her poor first impression, Tsunami had used as many ingredients as she could spare and prepared everything with as much skill as she could muster. Her efforts had met with mixed reactions.

The brown haired ninja, Ryuto, had scrutinized every inch of the dish with a look that made the widow feel as if her dining room had somehow become the setting for one of those cooking competitions that she'd heard about as a child. The boy chewed his first bite deliberately and Tsunami could see him shifting the bit of fish in his mouth in an obvious effort to find all of the idiosyncrasies of her food's flavor. The world melted away for the woman who lived with her father and son as she saw him swallow, the sound drowning out all others.

The woman let out a breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding when the Ryuto's face brightened for a moment before he set forth all of his effort to consume as much of the food in front of him as fast as possible, all the while exclaiming, "This is so good! It's almost as good as Ramen!" That comment had raised a few non-ninja eyebrows but the pinkette in the room elaborated, "He considers ramen to be the food of the gods. So I'd consider that as the highest complement ever coming from that bozo." Sakura took another bite of her food, which was already half gone, "But I can see what he means. This is better than my mom cooks, by far!" It seemed even the quiet boy with the dark eyes couldn't stop himself from digging into her meal, even if it was done so in a manner that was deceivingly slow. As for the tall one, he simply eye smiled at the mother as she stared wide eyed at his spotless plate, barren of even a speck of food. _I didn't even see him move!_ Tsunami shook herself from her startled thoughts, however, as she moved to fill up the quickly emptying plates.

 _After all,_ She thought, _They can't save our country on an empty stomach, can they?_

* * *

Naruto stared at the ceiling.

As soon as the boy had been sure that he was alone he'd shaped his fingers into the cross shaped hand seal hat he loved so much to start his clones on recreating Zabuza's mist technique. Ryuto wasn't one to scoff at learning a new technique, even if he had to copy others. Now, with his clones out training that new technique Naruto was faced with a serious problem. He was bored.

Naruto hated being bored, it made him do stupid things and doing stupid things could only hurt him. Frustrated at his predicament, Ryuto ran a hand down his face only to be horrified to find some of his makeup had come off. A quick henge and a few steps found the boy standing in front of the bathroom, a scowl set into his face. He could hear Sakura doing her thing on the other side of the door. Ryuto rolled his eyes before knock on the door in a frantic sort of way, "Hey Sakura! Hurry it up, I need to take a craaaaap!" Naruto smirked in his head even as his faced morphed into a panicked expression, "Go away Ryuto! My looking good for Sasuke is more important than your shit!" Ryuto made a show of huffing, "Fine! I'll go crap outside! But be warned, you're on the naughty list…" And he left ominously.

With that little exchange done, Ryuto ran out of Tazuna's house as fast as he could while clutching his backside while screaming, "Gotta go! Gotta go! Gotta go!" He was really only using the call of nature as an excuse for some privacy and didn't mind taking care of his business out in the wilderness as long as there was no one to witness the deed. Besides, the only thing that he really needed from an outside source was water and even then the land of waves was riddled with little ponds both fresh and salt water.

Ryuto smirked as the first of his clones dispelled with a progress report. _It seems things are going quite nicely._

* * *

Tazuna smiled.

Now that he didn't have to worry about always looking over his shoulder he could continue overseeing the construction of the bridge. The ninja had already proved themselves twice against super strong opponents that they really were trying to protect him, and Tazuna was sure that they wouldn't fail in the future. It always put the man in a good mood to see a person's efforts come to fruition(preferably his own), and it sure did seem like his plan to free Wave from the clutches of Gato was coming together quite nicely. Tazuna chuckled to himself in delight, "This bridge is gonna be super."

The old man's good mood didn't last long though as another couple of his workers came to him with their resignations in hand. Their reasons were all the same, all had families, all worried about what Gato will do, all quitting. After going through the motions of letting his workers go, Tazuna took a long swig from that liquor bottle he always kept within arm's reach, "Super."

His breath stank of sarcasm and alcohol.

* * *

Sasuke sighed.

Or he would have if he wasn't too busy trying not to inhale the fangirl. It had taken no time flat for Sakura to return to her annoying self when they finally arrived at Tazuna's house after that intense battle with Zabuza. Though it wasn't like Sasuke cared about the pink haired girl's wellbeing, he had other things to worry about.

Like Ryuto.

When the boy had shown himself to be more than capable of handling himself in a taijutsu fight with Kakashi (Even if the jonin wasn't actively attacking) Sasuke had figured that his brown haired teammate had been hiding his skill at the academy. He could respect the usefulness of the element of surprise as a ninja. After being on the same team as Ryuto for a decent amount of time the boy had let show that he was above average with his use of ninjutsu as well. During that time Sasuke had also discovered that all the boy seemed to do was eat, sleep, and train, though it wasn't like the Uchiha didn't have the same schedule. After the tomato incident, what little of Ryuto that he was willing to accept had gone down the drain, though Sasuke had wondered how the boy even gotten that kind of information on the avenger. The fight with the demon brothers (If it could be called that) hadn't started out well, Sasuke remembered his thoughts being along the lines of _That wall wasn't there a moment ago, oh look! Targets!_ Somehow Ryuto had learned that jutsu, along with a few others that Sasuke knew of, without any family to help him and any friends who might've been willing would've only had access to their own clan's techniques and those were a no-no when it came to teaching others. And then there was the fight against Zabuza…

Sasuke continued to ponder the topic of his male teammate even as his pink haired teammate tried again and again to catch his eye.

* * *

Inari pouted.

Why were those ninja even here? They were just going to die, Gato was going to kill them just like he killed everyone who tried to stand up to him. No one could stand up to Gato, so why didn't those ninja just give up?

Inari stared out at the ocean from his perch at the end of the pier, contemplating the uselessness of his situation.

* * *

Sakura smiled sweetly.

It was one of those too sweet smiles that people show when they're trying not to be a drag.

That was exactly what the pinkette was trying to do.

Not be a drag, that is.

In the past week they'd spent traveling the girl's views on the world had been shattered.

Ryuto wasn't as weak as he'd seemed to be during the academy. Sakura had realized that during the bell test but it didn't truly sink in until that fight with the demon brothers. The fight with Zabuza had shoved her ideas about being a ninja off of a cliff into shark infested waters. There was a very real chance that they could all die, and Sakura realized that there was nothing she could do to contribute to the situation. She was weak, and it hurt for her to admit it. Even Ryuto, the dead last of the class could fight.

With these thoughts in mind, Sakura resolved to train harder than ever when they got back from their mission. _Of course, that doesn't mean I'll give up on Sasuke._

Sakura's smile softened into something a bit more genuine.

* * *

Kakashi read his little orange book.

It hadn't taken long for him to deduce that Zabuza was still alive and most likely going to attack again. It wasn't good news and it sure as hell wouldn't raise his team's moral but it'd be better for them to know and be prepared than to be oblivious and caught off guard. Ryuto had handled himself surprisingly well, even going so far as to fake his own death to catch the ex-mist nin in the back end. Kakashi eye smiled as he turned the page, _That kid has no qualms about using that technique,_ _but,_ The man dropped the smile, _That kind of trick wouldn't work on the same ninja twice._

Kakashi was worried about the team's teamwork, it was obvious that Ryuto had used Sasuke as a distraction but that kind of mindset among comrades was only going to hurt the already shaky team dynamic. He knew he'd have to train his team in something to bring up their individual effectiveness up but Ryuto had proved that he already mastered the tree climbing and water walking techniques.

Kakashi's silver hair appeared grey in the mist.

* * *

I love reviews you guys and I'd be eternally grateful if at least some of you readers out there let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is my friend!

Hope you're enjoying my story! Now I'm gone get an Aspirin. Peace!


	10. Pending Ignition…10…9…

Hey everyone!

Just in case anyone was confused at all about that last chapter, all that happened on the first day after team 7's arrival at Tazuna's house.

I'm sorry for making you all wait so long, writer's block and all that.

Wait no longer! Now on to the story!

* * *

It was during breakfast on the second day that Kakashi sprung the news on his team, "Zabuza's not dead." That simple statement was met by a spectrum of reactions. Ryuto did a perfect spit take with the water he'd been attempting to drink. Sakura couldn't seem to get a word out through her chattering teeth. Sasuke brooded harder. Tsunami tilted her head like a lost puppy. Tazuna choked on a piece of fish, and Kakashi eye-smiled. The white haired jonin was positive that he would have gotten very similar reactions if he'd said he was pregnant. He continued even as Sasuke directed as much killing intent as he could at Ryuto (He'd been hit by the spit take), "I realized last night. Normal hunter ninja would've removed the head, incinerated the body, take the sword and be done with it."

The bridge builder finally choked that piece of fish down and spoke in a voice tainted by fear, "You can't be serious!"

Kakashi replied, his own voice lowering to prove his point, "I'm dead serious."

It was Ryuto who nodded as he wiped the water off of his face, "How long do we have?"

"A week at least, it takes a while to recover from being put into a death like state like that. That's how I was fooled, those senbon needles only looked like they were meant to kill him." Everyone seemed a bit more calm now that they were coming to terms with the truth.

Sakura looked up at her sensei, fear evident in her eyes. She knew she wasn't ready at all for a fight on Zabuza's level, but even then she steeled herself to work as hard as she had too. "W-what are we gonna do?"

Kakashi eye-smiled at his pink haired student, "I'm going to teach you little genin something new."

If team 7 hadn't been paying attention before they sure were now.

Sasuke smirked, "So, you're finally getting serious? Bring it on, I'll master whatever it is you have to teach in no time." Ryuto rolled his eyes, "Wow, Dusty, you're as arrogant as ever. Just make sure you don't crap yourself next time Zabuza shows up, okay? I'd hate to have to bail you out again." Sasuke made a sound akin to that of a wild beast, "Shut up, Dobe! I had everything under control before you stole my spotlight!" Ryuto rose from his seat nonchalantly, speaking as he collected everyone's empty dishes, "Jeez, Dusty! How deluded can you get? It I hadn't shoved that jutsu up Zabuza's-" The lady of the house gave Ryuto a look and he quickly revised his speech, "…I mean, if I hadn't hit Zabuza where the light don't shine, you'd be feeding the local wildlife right now. Welcome to reality. When are you gonna get over the fact that I'm better than you?"

Kakashi saw the murderous look on Sasuke's face and decided to speak up, "Boys!" The jonin was pleased to see both of his students pause in their bickering to look at him. The copy nin suppressed a sigh, his genin were so troublesome, "You two are ninja! Now start acting like it! This isn't back in Konoha where you two can be at each other's throats all day long! The mission goes before our personal problems, when you're on a team, even if you don't like the other members you fake it 'till you turn that mission in because when shit hits the fan they're gonna be the ones who'll have your back! Now get outside, training starts right now!"

The three genin were too stunned by Kakashi's intense speech to resist(Kakashi never spoke above a conversational tone), even as they were dragged out of the bridge builder's house and deep into the surrounding forest.

Kakashi finally put his team down after finding a clearing in the forest that would suit his needs. When the silver haired man spoke it was with an icy voice, "Listen up, I'm only going to say this once. You squirts are going to learn the tree climbing chakra control exercise." The man quickly demonstrated by standing on the trunk of the nearest tree perpendicular to the ground, "To do this you channel a constant stream of your chakra to the bottom of your feet in order to stick. Too much will blow you away, too little and you won't stick." The Copy nin then ended his explanation with an eye smile and a sickeningly sweet voice, "Now get to work."

As Sasuke charged at his tree and Sakura pondered their sensei's explanation before quickly following her teammate's example, Ryuto instead approached Kakashi who had already whipped out his little orange book, "Hey, sensei?"

The man didn't look up from his porn, "You already know the tree walking technique, yes?" In response to Ryuto's shocked face(even though his eye had yet to focus on anything that wasn't on the page he was reading) Kakashi explained, "You channeled chakra into your limbs when we fought during the bell test. A genin wouldn't think to use such a technique if they didn't know how to tree walk. You were also walking on water at the end of the fight against Zabuza." The apparent brunette resisted the urge to face palm in favor of listening to the rest of what his sensei had to say, "Help your teammates learn and maybe I'll give you a jutsu to work on."

One hand sign later and the members of team 7 learning to climb trees were suddenly receiving tips from a Ryuto clone, "So, how about that jutsu?" The recent genin's excitement was palpable, and his wide smile seemed to sparkle. Kakashi sighed, the kid used his shadow clone technique so rarely it was hard to remember he even knew it.

Kakashi released a duffle bag from a sealing scroll he pulled from his pocket, and sat down, back turned toward Ryuto, as he dug through the bag, all the while mumbling incoherently. As the exited genin waited for his sensei to find what he was looking for Ryuto sat down to review the progress report he'd received from one of his clones. As it turned out that hand sign that Zabuza had done was just for show and had no purpose other than misdirection. Intriguing. It seemed that the base of the technique was pulling water into the air and spreading it out in a fine mist. The hiding in the mist technique doubled as a water manipulation chakra control exercise. Well it was a good thing Naruto had decided to read that book on elemental manipulation, "Although," He speculated, "I'll have to add more if I want to make any sort of timely headway."

"Hm? Are you working on some sort of independent project, Ryuto?" The boy jumped multiple feet into the air, he'd been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed Kakashi standing directly in front of him.

The boy quickly flashed one of his signature blinding smiles as he spouted the first thing that came to mind, "I'm trying to figure out a way to make ramen flavored sushi! I'll need to add more ingredients to the marinade if I want to make any sort of timely headway! Hahaha!" Ryuto spotted Kakashi's deadpan and changed the subject, "Anyway, did you find the jutsu, Kakashi-sensei?"

The silver haired cyclops studied his student as seconds slipped by before slamming the scroll into the boy's slightly sweaty hands, "Here you go, Ryuto. Go wild." And with that, the jonin sensei of team seven eye-smiled as he left his students to their training, giggling away at the little orange book in his hands.

Ryuto glanced at his teammates who were already improving. Well, Sasuke was improving, Sakura was already running up and down the tree, a sheen of sweat gracing her larger than average brow. The boy trusted his clone to make sure the two of them didn't hurt themselves beyond repair, and so he left to train in solitude. His teammates paused to watch him go.

* * *

That day, it was Kakashi who watched over the bridge builder.

For the most part the latter ignored the former, opting instead to focus on directing, and often lending a hand to, his diminishing work force. But there was one exchange of note between the two very different men.

"Say, Kakashi?"

Tazuna wiped at his receding hairline as the ninja acknowledged him with an oh-so eloquent, "Hm?"

"Is that a signed, first edition, original printing, alternative font, Icha Icha Paradise authors addition?"

"Yes."

"Oh, okay."

And the two went back to their separate tasks, each one's respect for the other rising a mile.

* * *

That night Ryuto did not return to Tazuna's household, though a shadow clone had, in his stead, to deliver the message.

Sasuke and Sakura each spared the chakra construct only a glance, each wondering about the boy's ungodly stamina. Though Sasuke wouldn't admit it, his chakra coils hurt from the constant exertion. He'd made headway but he was only about halfway up the tree and it frustrated the Uchiha boy to no end that the pink haired fangirl had picked it up on the first try, though he wondered at the girl's sudden quietness. Even a few days ago Sakura would have been all over the chance to be alone with him in a secluded forest.

Sasuke couldn't say that he didn't like not having Sakura fawning all over him, in fact it was a welcome change, if a bit startling.

Sakura herself had decided to put her love life aside, for the moment, in an effort to preserve her life as a whole and hopefully graduate from her station as the weakest link. Even as she ate, the pink haired kunoichi swore to herself that she would strive to move forward as a ninja, and someday it would be _them_ looking at _her_ back.

Kakashi simply told the clone to be careful before dispelling it via fist to the face.

They didn't start worrying until the third night in a row that Ryuto sent a clone to the house to let them know that he was going to be training through the night again.

"Do you think Ryuto's still out there working on that jutsu you gave him, Kakashi sensei?" It was Sakura who was first to speculate, worry apparent on her face.

Kakashi nodded, flipping a page as he did so, "He's probably trying to get it combat ready in preparation for Zabuza's return. Speaking of which, how is your tree climbing coming along?"

Surprisingly it was the dark haired Uchiha who answered, "We're both ready to move on, teach us something else." Unsurprisingly the boy wanted something else to add to his repertoire of skills. The silver haired cyclopes didn't look up from his book. The only sound in the room was the weak swish of a page being turned.

"Hm…" Sasuke and Sakura both leaned forward, hope gleaming in their youthful eyes, "…No." Only to be crushed against the mountainside of unyielding denial.

It was Sakura who asked the million ryo question, "But sensei, Sasuke and I are working super hard! We mastered the tree walking exercise you taught us! Why won't you teach us anything else?" The dark haired Uchiha nodded his head in agreement with his pink haired teammate.

The silver haired Sensei held up his index and middle fingers, "Two reasons. One, can the two of you effectively spar for and extended period of time while using your chakra to stick to the trees?" Two shaken heads, "Then you have not mastered the tree walking exercise. Two, there isn't time enough time for the two of you to learn a new skill and train it up to combat usability. Tree walking is a basic skill that can be used to enhance your other skills, drastically increasing your over all effectiveness in combat in a much smaller span of time in comparison to if you were to take the time to train your bodies and minds into the tempered steel you would need to fight other ninjas with out the use of chakra to strengthen yourselves." Kakashi flipped another page lazily, "Tomorrow you two are going back out there and you will be sparring on the side of a tree. I'll have pakkun explain in the morning. For now it's time for my cute little genin to get to bed."

As they trudged up the stairs to their respective living spaces, Sakura decided to voice a complain, "How come Ryuto gets to stay out all night?"

Kakashi's answer was swift and decisive, "I doubt he's stopped training for anything other than eating and sleeping. Unlike some genin who like to waste time questioning their sensei's judgement."

"Alright, alright! We get the point." Sakura dismissed Kakashi's sarcasm with a wave of her hand, "Don't worry Sensei, we'll master that tree walking yet!" As the pinkette slid the door closed, the silver haired ninja heard her whisper to herself, "We have to."

* * *

The next day, Sakura and Sasuke were rudely awakened from their slumber by none other than their perverted Sensei. That would have been fine if the sun had been up. And if Kakashi had chosen a method less shocking than the classic bucket of cold water.

"Rise and shine my cute little genin! You've got training to do!"

Everyone within a one mile radius was awakened by the rage filled howls of Kakashi's students.

* * *

Deep in the forest surrounding the bridge builder's house, Ryuto's ear twitched as the was alerted of an incoming attack and the boy promptly rolled out of the way. He had no time to retaliate as his attacker exploded into a fiery ball of doom and instead flared his chakra to circumvent the fire, even as he molded his life energy further, pulling water from the nearby creek into the air. The boy parried a punch from behind while simultaneously pivoting before letting his coiled arm fly, his hand striking something solid that burst into an obnoxious cloud of chakra smoke. He left with no reprieve as a pair of hands emerged from the ground, successfully grabbing his ankles as the kyuubi jinchuriki was forcefully dragged underground. A substitution kept him from feeling the foot that had been aimed for his face, and the boy capitalized on the opportunity that had opened up because of it, ruthlessly stabbing through the clone's chest with a knife hand strike.

Fighting his clones, Ryuto found, was an extremely effective way to train, especially with a few self-imposed handicaps. Nothing too over the top, he was just blindfolded, with no weapons, and was barred from using any techniques that required the use of hand signs. Ryuto wondered if he'd fried his brain from the constant training, even as he found himself in a high speed stalemate with one of his clones. They traded blows for a moment, long enough for another clone hidden somewhere in the foliage to launch one of his most destructive techniques.

Shuriken Kage Bunshin, enough said.

Fun fact about the Substitution Technique, a living being can resist being substituted with using several different methods. The first is to stick yourself to whatever surface you're standing on. This is the one that many ninja fall back on when confronted with such a problem, though it is by no means perfect. You still feel the pull of the technique as the person casting it is still pulled toward you and that can result in a very painful morning after for your joints. The second method is to flare your chakra, much like you would to dispel a genjutsu. This method is designed to forcibly remove the grip of the jutsu, as without an anchor to pull the castor they won't go anywhere. This method also has it's flaws, it takes noticeably longer to learn how to flare your chakra, and the act itself takes more chakra to successfully perform, you also have to expend more chakra than whoever is using to power the technique, otherwise the counter simply wouldn't work.

The clone had attempted to employ the second method mentioned, though needless to say, it didn't have nearly as much chakra as the original.

* * *

As always, let me know what you think, the story will only get better with your well thought out and constructive input.

Ah who am I kidding? I love it when you just write what you feel!

Peace!


	11. Cranked up to Eleven

Okay, you guys!

Thanks for waiting, it's been awhile.

I just wanted to let you all know that it's important to let those around you know how you feel.

Just a little nugget of advice.

* * *

Haku had been wandering around the forest, looking for a specific herb for Zabuza, when he happened upon one of the Leaf ninja, passed out on the ground. The (fake) hunter nin's eyes narrowed as he recognized the unconscious boy before him as the one that had been able to land that debilitating hit on Zabuza. Haku sighed, _I had heard that Leaf ninja were cut from a different sort of cloth, but to use such an attack?_ The boy's face glowed in embarrassment at where his enemy's fingers had gone, _I didn't think that a hidden village would teach their genin to be_ that _type of ninja._

Looking at the peacefully sleeping brunette, a shiver ran down Haku's spine. He resolved, right then and there, to never touch the boy or, more importantly, let the boy touch him in any way, shape, or form. The self proclaimed tool made this decision, not because of any concern for the other boy, but as a mechanism of self preservation. Haku would give his life for Zabuza, indeed he owed the former swordsman of the Mist a life dept, but nothing, nothing was worth even the slightest chance of being infected with something as sick and foul as perversion.

* * *

Somewhere on the roads of the Elemental Nations a white haired sage sneezed.

"Oh?! Someone dares speak about the gallant Jiraiya?! I wonder if it's a pretty woman!"

* * *

With that final decision made, Haku turned on the heel of his foot and strode right out of that clearing at a noticeably faster pace than before.

It was some time after Haku's departure that Sasuke arrived on the scene, having been chosen by Kakashi to retrieve Ryuto from where ever it was he'd disappeared to. The self proclaimed avenger poked his way through the brush, just as Ryuto awakened with a groan. Sasuke silently watched for a moment as his teammate ran through some simple stretches, trying to find any kind of hidden meaning in the boy's movements. Then the moment passed and the Uchiha realized that he wouldn't be finding the secret to his teammate's power just be watching him stretch.

"Hey, Ryuto." The brunette paused in his stretches, maintaining a particularly painful looking position as he turned his head to face where Sasuke had emerged from the bushes.

The boy smiled a too wide smile, even as his body changed positions so that his left knee rested directly behind his head, "I hope you're enjoying the few Sasuke, 'cause that's as far as you'll get. I'm not into guys." Ryuto chuckled as he switched sides, "What's up, Dusty?"

Sasuke was too busy trying not to murder his teammate, while simultaneously trying to wrestle down both his embarrassment and his blush to notice the use of his hated nickname (Sasuke didn't even know where his fellow genin had even come up with that one) and therefore was unable to correct his teammate. The raven haired boy was only just able to choke something about " _breakfast_ " and "- _Kakashi's_ _orders_ " before stomping off to go burn something.

Ryuto scratched his head as he stood up from the last of his morning contortions, mumbling as he headed off to see what Kakashi wanted, "It was just a joke…" The boy paused on his walk out of the forest as the memories from another of his training clones flowed into him. He took another moment to sift through the experiences, and then burst into a face-splitting grin as he continued his short journey, a bit more pep in his step.

* * *

As it turned out, the cycloptic sensei of squad seven simply suggested his student stay for the day to sleep inside so as to be well rested and sparkling with energy incase Zabuza shows up for round two. Ryuuto just nodded, ate breakfast, and headed back outside to train. He had been getting tired of sleeping on the ground anyway, so he had no qualms with Kakashi's veiled order.

The jonin left with the bridge builder, and Ryuto quickly noticed that he was being watched, not by any sort of ninja, but by that mopey brat who hung out in the corners, trying to make himself look even smaller than he already was. When the ninja openly looked at the boy, the kid ran off. Ryuto shrugged to himself and continued with his training, though he quickly ran into another problem.

He was bored.

Ryuto pondered this new predicament, in the leaf village there had always been something to do, somewhere to go, someone to spy on. Here he had to stay in the general vicinity of Tazuna's house, and with the imminent chance of a battle happening the genin didn't feel comfortable starting an intense training session, as much as he wanted to. So Ryuto was left to puzzle out a solution to this new problem.

Well, he _could_ go check on his teammates…

Nah, if they really wanted to see him they could walk over on their own two legs.

He _could_ leave a shadow clone in his place while he went off to explore…

But what if an enemy launched a surprise attack?

No that wouldn't do either.

Just as the boy was getting ready to pull his own hair out in frustration (and completely smear his powder dye which despite being water proof would still come off if someone pulled hard enough) his nose twitched. The disguised ninja followed the scent that had caught his interest into the bridge builder's house and straight to the kitchen where Tsunami was humming a quiet tune to herself as she set out their meager supplies in preparation for lunch and dinner after that.

"Need a hand?"

The bridge builder's daughter smiled pleasantly even as she began to turn the boy down, "Oh, that's quite alri-"

-And promptly began the process of picking her jaw from where it lay on the floor as Ryuto, with a flourish of a scroll, materialized more base ingredients than Tsunami had ever seen in one place(since Gato arrived), and proceeded to cook up a storm. Tsunami was so shocked at the boy's usurpation of her kitchen that when he turned his head and ordered her to get to work she could only nod and do as she was told.

Thus, when the rest of team seven returned from their various day activities along with Tazuna and even the wayward Inari, They found themselves at the receiving end of a huge feast. There were trays of food neatly taking up every square inch of the original dining table and the two others that the bridge builder had no idea about. Ryuuto and Tsunami were still moving about the kitchen in a culinary dance of sorts, chatting like a couple of old housewives, "-and then I said, 'Oatmeal! Are you crazy!' and she had the nerve to laugh! Can you believe that? What kind of psycho bathes in hot oatmeal? I mean-"

Kakashi cleared his throat, cutting Ryuto off from whatever he was going to say next and affectively getting everyone's attention, "Well, I suppose it _i_ _s_ possible to learn something new everyday. Ryuto, I'm surprised to see you working in the kitchen, I thought you'd still be out training."

Ryuto nodded in acknowledgment of his sensei, "I got bored, so I found something productive to do." He gestured at the beautiful bounty spread in front of the slobbering group. Kakashi admitted to himself that he'd be lying if he said that the smell coming from that food didn't make him salivate as well, "Unless you guys don't want any of the food that I have prepared with the wonderful Tsunami's help?"

There was a rapid influx of apologies and shaking heads as the group was finally knocked out of their stupor. Soon, they were all seated and enjoying the fruits of Ryuto's (And Tsunami's) labor, silent with the exception of the sounds that people make when they eat.

Sakura and Sasuke didn't know what to think of this sudden development, as Ryuto had never shown any kind culinary skill. They were both curious as to where he'd learned and why he was only revealing such talent now of all times. They were both curious, though it was Sakura who broke the silence, "W-wow, Ryuto. I didn't know you could cook at all, let alone like this." Her voice changed from an impressed tone to a slightly joking one, "So the great Ryuto Shota is really just a big Mama's boy, eh?"

Sakura, Tazuna, Tsunami, Sasuke, and even Inari, expected embarrassment, shouts of denial, maybe even proud acceptance, what they got was completely different.

Ryuto's smiling face darkened in an instant, his expression stealing the life out of the room, and then the moment was over and he was smiling again, though it was just a bit too wide. He quickly excused himself from the table, claiming to be full despite having been devouring his meal with more furor than the rest of them combined. Sakura looked up, face full of confusion as her sensei patted her shoulder, "Sakura," The scarecrow's eye looked at the doorway where his other student had disappeared through, "Ryuto's an orphan."

Her eyes widened in realization as confusion turned to shock.

* * *

That night Ryuto's clones finished the mist technique, though he couldn't quite muster up the effort to be happy about it.

He knew that Sakura and Sasuke didn't know that he didn't have parents, he never told any one when it wasn't absolutely necessary. That didn't mean he felt any less upset at the girl's complete lack of tact, wasn't _she_ supposed to be the smart one?

These were the thoughts that were running through Naruto's head just before he heard a scream. He instantly recognized Tsunami's voice and shot off toward the bridge builder's house. There was Tsunami, screaming in terror. Inari stood, hands balled into fists, a look of determination in his eyes even as the glint of steel flashed through the air.

Blood splattered on the short pier, only the mist moved, drifting lazily, unaware of the events unfolding.

A thump, quickly followed by another.

The mist cleared, revealing Ryuto as he stood above the bodies of two of Gato's thugs, Kunai firmly set in the backs of their skulls.

The ninja spoke in an intense voice, soft, yet powerful, "Get inside, I've got business to attend to." Tsunami rushed to obey the genin's command, pushing her son toward the door, and valiantly ignoring her shaking hands. Just before Inari lost sight of Ryuto, the older boy looked back with a proud smirk, "Nice work, kid." And then he was gone.

* * *

Sasuke refrained from panicking.

He knew he had the advantage in a strait taijutsu fight, and when that masked ninja started doing single handed hand signs, the Uchiha had kept his cool and defended as best he could, waiting for the opening that would let him end the fight. Then his opponent had somehow summoned these ice mirrors that let him move faster than Sasuke could see and things had gone to hell from there. His fireball couldn't melt the damn things and, even if he could get close enough to use his fists, or even his weapons, he doubted he'd be able to make any noticeable dent in the ice mirrors. There was also that little fact that the young Uchiha was starting to resemble a pincushion more than a ninja.

Seeing her teammate was in trouble, Sakura threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached. Sasuke had tried to capitalize on the opportunity his pink haired teammate had provided, blowing another of his fireballs, trying to hit the mirror from both sides with the hope that the double impact would be enough to take it out. But Zabuza's accomplice was too fast, in the blink of an eye he'd pierced the tag on the kunai with multiple senbon needles, rendering it useless, kicked Sasuke's feet out from under him, disrupting his technique and sending him hurtling into the frosty ground, and returned to the safety of his ice mirrors.

This ninja was on a completely different level than what Sasuke had ever faced before, but he'd rather go to hell than give up. If he couldn't beat some freak in a mask how would he ever be able to face That Man when the time came?

With a grunt of effort, Sasuke lifted himself from the ground and settled himself into a defensive stance. This kind of technique would _have_ to take a lot of chakra. Sasuke Uchiha of team seven from the village hidden in the leaves would wait out his opponent.

* * *

Ryuto studied the battlefield from his perch at the top of the crane the construction workers had been using to help with the bridge.

Kakashi and Zabuza were somewhere in that cloud of mist, though they seemed to be at a standstill if the lack of violent sounds were anything to go off of. Sakura had tried to help Sasuke from her post guarding Tazuna, though that masked ninja had nullified her effort to be useful. Sasuke was getting his ass handily handed to him on an icy platter. Well, it was obvious who he should help. His sensei was (hopefully) worried about his student's help and that would hinder his ability to fight to his fullest potential.

Mind made up, Ryuto made a shadow clone who immediately jumped down. As the clone fell from the heavens He enveloped himself in his own cloud of mist, saturating the air with his chakra in the process. The original, still crouched high above the others, focused on the chakra maintaining the mist that his clone had produced during it's decent and molded the water element already infused in that mist, condensing it into dozens of long, sharp, clear needles.

The clone landed, immediately forcing a substitution with Sasuke, and dispelling, giving it's creator the signal. Feeling the tingle in the back of his mind as memories folded themselves back into his psyche, Ryuto sent the needle rain hurtling through sky, targeting the dome of ice mirrors and the space within. For those near the point of impact, the sound was nigh on deafening, for Ryuto, it was still quite loud.

* * *

Tazuna nearly wet himself.

Sakura blinked in disbelief, wondering what could have caused the enemy's ice mirrors to shatter so spectacularly when even Sasuke's fireball hadn't done anything to melt them.

Kakashi and Zabuza engaged in another bout of combat, each filled with worry for their own subordinate.

A badly damaged Haku lay bleeding on the ground, surrounded by the remains of his technique, his body riddled with tiny holes, his clothes soaked with a mixture of water and blood.

Sasuke voiced what all of them were thinking, "What the hell just happened?"

Instead of getting his answer, Sasuke watched as Haku rolled out of the way as his teammate landed, cracking the surface of the bridge and clearing a significant amount of the mist, allowing everyone present to witness as the leaf genin fought the ninja trained by a former swordsman of the mist.

It was easy to tell that whatever had broken Haku's mirrors had heavily damaged him as well. The feminine boy's movements weren't as graceful as when he'd fought Sasuke, every movement seemed to cause him to flinch slightly in pain. But, despite the pain, the ice user didn't stop moving, in fact, it seemed he was trying to get away.

As soon as Haku had seen that the brown haired leaf ninja was after him, he'd tried to form a mirror to escape through, but before it was even finished he felt his opponent's completely envelope and extinguish what chakra he'd put in and suddenly the boy was in front of him, fist already in motion. Zabuza's self proclaimed tool tried to dodge, the punch clipping his shoulder instead of slamming straight into his face. Being a trained ninja, Haku rolled with the hit and struck back with a fist full of senbon, even as he once more moved to escape.

This time the ice user was doubly thwarted, as Ryuto grabbed the offending arm by the wrist, forcefully spun the slightly older boy around, and (still holding his forearm) slammed the masked boy face first into the pavement, shattering said mask.

In stupefied shock, Sasuke was unable to stop himself from saying, "You're a _girl_?!"

At this proclamation, Ryuto paused in his brutal smack down, allowing Haku the chance he needed to escape through a mirror he formed on the ground. The ninja appeared halfway between the Uchiha and the threat before answering, "I can assure you that I am, in fact, a boy."

This time it was Ryuto who pointed in shock, "I call BS! Shenanigans! You've gotta be lying! You're more girly than Ino and she's the girliest girl I know!"

"Hey!"

"I can _assure_ you that I am indeed in possession of fully functional male anatomy."

In the background Kakashi and Zabuza were locked in mortal combat, each dodging the other's strikes by centimeters.

Ryuto shook his head in exasperation, "As much as I don't want to believe you, I'll take your word for it." At the questioning glances from his teammates, Ryuto could only shrug, "This is too weird, can we get back to fighting now?"

Just as they prepared for another bout, the smell of ozone and the sound of chirping filled the air. Kakashi had summoned his nin-dogs to immobilize the missing nin as he charged his attack, **"** **Raikiri!"**

Haku's eyes widened as he took in this new development and made a split second decision. He would give his life to save his master's, he'd die as a tool was meant to. Yet even that was denied to Haku as, in the split second it took for the two ice mirrors to form, and the next that it took for Haku to travel between the two, Haku found that his exit mirror was't were it was supposed to be when he came out. Instead of him by his master's side to the very end, instead of him fulfilling his purpose in life, that _wretched leaf ninja_ had stopped him! He'd changed places with Haku's ice mirror, the one that would have let him save his master's life.

Blood splattered on the forsaken bridge, and Haku saw red.

* * *

So, what did you guys think? I'm always looking for feedback, so if you think what I'm doing for the finale of the Zabuza saga is weird, let me know how so, and if you've got one, a more appealing way to go about it.

Also, I'm thinking of ending this story in a few more chapters. I'd like your opinion on that as well.

Anywho…

Chow!


	12. Twelve Tolls of Death's Bell

Hey all, sorry about the wait and the shortness of this chapter. School's started up again and I'm having a hard time birthing more plot out of my mind. I'm putting this chapter out now because it's what I have and you guys have waited long enough for it. As a side note, I think I might go on hiatus for a while and try to recover my creative juices in terms of this story. For any of you keeping up with my other story, Naruto the Kitsune, I had a chapter almost done but am deciding whether or not to scrap it because of the over saturation of mindless combat and nonexistent connection to the plot.

* * *

The temperature dropped as Ryuto heard a bone chilling scream tear across the bridge and echo far past the reaches of sanity, ice spread across the bridge in an unwavering torrent of frost. If not for the genin's quick thinking, (and use of shadow clones) team 7, Tazuna, and Zabuza's sword would have all been frozen solid as well.

Sakura was stunned, "What-?" She was interrupted by the sound of Ryuto's shadow clones dismissing themselves, and the boy closed his eyes as he sifted through the sights his clones had seen, ignoring his pink haired teammate's attempts to grasp the situation he took in the scenery for himself.

The ice covered the entire bridge, encapsulated the wood, steel, and concrete, so cold that little crystals of the stuff hung in the air, seemingly unaffected by gravity.

And there was Haku, the center of it all, trapped in a shell of his own ice, a tear frozen on his face. A face so contorted with hate, anger, fear, sadness, and a host of other, unnamed emotions, forever displayed, twisting his face into an unrecognizable visage.

The wind shifted, and what was left of the mist disappeared, revealing two armies, of a sort, gathered at both ends of the incomplete bridge. Gato and his men stood, confident that their victory was assured, facing the entire male population of wave, all ready to fight for their country with anything and everything they could get their hands on. No one spoke.

And then the little man in the business suit with the tiny glasses who was the cause of all this, broke the silence, "Wonderful, just wonderful! I hired those two to do a job, and what do they do? One get's a hole blown in his chest! And the other? The little shit turns himself and everything around into a fucking popsicle!" A chorus of laughter went up amongst Gato's force as the man himself continued with a chuckle, "Ha! I don't really care either way, I wasn't gonna pay them no matter what happened! And now that they've exhausted those Leaf ninja, my guys can finish what those stupid ninja started!"

The people of wave tensed, ready to battle the evil forces of Gato. Said forces also tensed, though slightly less so, as they were still confident in their far superior combat skills. Ryuto felt that he had been forgotten, and so, resolved to remedy that.

As the greedy business man opened his mouth to continue his speech, his head was lopped off by Zabuza's sword. One of the bandits that had been standing nearby screamed as he tumbled into the frigid waters below as, in his place, stood one Ryuto Shota, who yelled out in frustration for all to hear, "That asshole! They died for you, and you weren't even _planning_ to pay them? You deserve everything coming to you in Hell."

Everyone paused as they registered what just happened and a cheer went up among the people of wave as a roar of anger simultaneously exploded from the hoard of bandits, as well as Sakura's scream of "WHAT?!" as she tried to grasp the rapidly changing situation.

Behind the majority of the late Gato's forces stood two of his best paid goons with both Tsunami and Inari bound and gagged. The smarter one groaned, "Well there goes the cash cow. Now how am I supposed to be able to raise the money so I can afford the super rare, (only five ever made) young Itachi figurine with the alternate Uchiha coloring and full fire-breathing action?!"

The more bloodthirsty of the two turned a gleeful eye on the captives, "Now that I don't have to listen to the boss, 'cause he's dead, I don't have to leave you two alive." In one swift movement, the sell-sword whipped out his blade, cleaving through the prone bodies of Tazuna's daughter and grandson. A scream rang out, followed by the sound of two muted pops, blood splattering, and a sharp clang.

The cloud of smoke that had briefly obscured scene was quickly swept away, revealing Naruto, giant cleaver in hand, standing above the bisected body of the nameless bandit, a look of intense focus on his face. He slashed the stunned bandit next to him, and continued on.

At that point, Sasuke tried to jump back into the fight, but was stopped by his sensei's firm grip on his shoulder, "Sasuke, let Ryuto handle this. I'm sure you know by now that he's stronger than you. Add in that he's still basically fresh and rested, while you might as well be a nearly dead porcupine- Well, he's just the better choice in this instance." The Uchiha boy grit his teeth as he mentally confirmed what Kakashi was saying, not wanting to accept just how far ahead of him his teammate was. Yes, he was almost out of chakra from his fight with Haku, and yes, he had lost a lot of blood as a result of the same fight, but he just couldn't accept it!

He'd known that his teammate was ahead of him, as far as being a ninja went, which begged the question of how he'd failed the initial genin exam in the first place. Sasuke shook his head, Had Ryuto really been holding back so much over the years? During the academy, and even as an official ninja? The screams of agony down below sure said so.

Gato had hired easily over two hundred men, and Ryuto slaughtered them all with Zabuza's six-foot plus blade in a bloody dance of doom, switching with random mercenaries only to cleave through more of them with the ever sharpening blade. Sometime during the massacre the genin had conjured up a mist that hid the brutal violence from the simple fishermen of Wave.

When the mist cleared, Ryuto stood alone before the frozen Haku, covered in blood not his own, the former swordsman of the mist's blade gleaming in the muted light. The boy fought to catch his breath, as with a final heave of effort, he hefted the executioner's blade high above his head and brought it down on Haku's shell of ice, shattering it completely with a deafening sound. The blood bathed boy's knees shook and he had to lean on the massive (and heavy) sword as the exhaustion of fighting a small army caught up to him.

The world was muted to the boy, and the last thing he saw was his teammates descending upon him as the darkness closed in.

* * *

Let it be said that Naruto is not naturally an early riser. When he wakes up in the morning, be it at five o'clock for his normal schedule or three o'clock to get in some extra training, he always takes the time to go through an intricate morning ritual to free his mind from the clutches of dreamland. The window being opened just enough to let the sun shine directly into his unprotected face was not helping with his condition.

The boy groaned as he tried to sit up, his arms flailing, half in an effort to block the piercing rays, and half in search of something to pull over his head. One of his hands brushed a smooth chest and the boy spoke, not fully awake, "Get out o' here Dusty, I don' like you tha way."

A sudden feeling of doom permeated the room as a familiar voice rose in anger, "RY-U-TO!" Before he could even think about avoiding his fate, his teammate delivered one _Sakura Special_ , and left the room in a huff, grumbling to herself even as steam poured off of the quickly growing knot on the boy's head.

From his position on the floor, next to the couch he'd previously been resting on, Ryuto could clearly hear the pattering of bare feet as the inhabitants of the house all rushed toward the living room, where he'd apparently been placed to recover. The sliding door slammed open as more bodies than was recommended tried to force their way through the opening at the same time. Suddenly the room was filled with the well-wishing residents of Wave.

"Ryuto! You're okay!" That one was Inari, who'd discarded his hat in favor of showing off his own mop of brown hair. It seemed his attitude had improved greatly now that Gato was gone

"Brat! You're finally awake!" Tazuna, always he disrespectful drunkard, raised his bottle with a happy cry, merrily drinking from his spot at the kitchen table.

"I was so worried when you collapsed!" Ryuto idly wondered if this was what it felt like to have a mother, as Tsunami hugged him tightly.

Many others, mostly nameless individuals, pressed in so they too could express their gratitude to the boy.

Spotting the Ryuto's distress, Kakashi spoke up from the perch he'd taken by the window. "Maa, maa. Give the boy some space before he passes out again." As the overexcited countrymen reluctantly filed out of Tazuna's house, Kakashi responded to the nod of appreciation he received with an eye smile, then turned his thoughts to the aftermath of that battle.

* * *

 _Kakashi felt a feeling take precedence over the regret usually held within his heart as he watched Ryuuto decimate the bandit army, pride. That pride was quickly overwritten with worry as his student collapsed from the strain of such an impressive display, and then turned into amusement as he watched his student's unconscious body being coddled by more than one grateful female from the poor country, blood and all. He'd have to watch out for anyone trying to show a little too much gratitude._

 _The jonin lifted an indignant Sasuke and the still unconscious Ryuto onto his shoulders before applying a quick genjutsu to amplify his voice as he addressed the crowd with his usual pleasant demeanor, "Well, good work everybody! If we could get someone to clean up this whole mess I'm sure everyone would appreciate it. I personally have to take care of my students, so I won't be able to assist with the clean up. As you all can see, the little tykes are all tuckered out. Well, be seeing you! C'mon guys, let's go!" And just like that, team 7 and Tazuna's family (the man included), were hoofing it back to the bridge builder's house._

 _A pleasant walk later and the group arrived at their destination. Kakashi quickly set his conscious genin to their own tasks, "Sakura," The girl snapped to attention at the sound of her name, "I need you to help dress Sasuke's wounds. Luckily, the damage isn't too bad, but we still don't need him getting blood everywhere, Ryuto's done enough of that by himself." He gestured to the blood_ _that had transferred from Ryuto to his uniform, "As for our little maverick," The last Hatake eye smiled as he stepped into the bathroom with his student, "I've got this one."_

 _Turning on the hot water, Kakashi set to work extracting Ryuto from his blood soaked clothes. He let out an impressed_ _whistle at just how much blood had to have to have splattered on him to have soaked through his clothes so completely to have caked every inch of skin underneath._

 _He set the boy down in the tub as the water continued to pour, "Kid, you really are something else. You're a mystery, pulling out skills that you've obviously been polished through long hours of hard work and experimentation, a level of skill that a fresh genin has no business even thinking about." Kakashi narrowed his eye as he scrutinized Ryuto for a moment before turning his gaze downward, 'You aren't who you say you are, Ryuto, I know that. The Hokage knows too, and it's something important, I'm sure of it.' The man sighed, cutting off the flow of the water and adding a special soap to the mix to help him scrub off the blood, 'He's not a threat to the Leaf. At least, I hope he isn't. The Hokage wouldn't allow a threat to the village exist on_ _purpose, would he?'_

 _Kakashi shook his head to rid himself of such thoughts, and began the long process of removing the dried blood from his student._

 _He started by scrubbing the boy's matted hair and immediately noticed something, "Hm? Yellow hair? How unusual." The jonin shrugged as he continued scrubbing his student, much the same way that a parent might scrub their filthy child. With each motion of the cloth, yet more gunk flaked off of the boy's skin, and soon enough he was completely clean with a stunned Kakashi sitting nearby._

 _The make-up and the dye had come off along with the dried blood. His mask removed, Naruto was left exposed for all of one man to see._

 _The hokage had to have known, there was no way he couldn't have, and that only begged the question, "Why did he let, this, go on for so long?"_

* * *

After the others had finally filed out of the room, Kakashi stared at his student for a while before shutting the sliding door with a sigh.

"Sensei, I have failed you."

* * *

So there you have it. Naruto's identity has been revealed, what will Kakashi do with this new information? Do you think I should slap a complete tag on this story and start a new one for the next arc? Or should I keep this one going?

Earlier I had an Idea for a collection of one-shots, **Kage Bunshin Problems: Follow the private lives of Naruto's shadow clones as each one's story unfolds. It's amazing how much trouble a bunch of copies of the same person can get into.** Yeah, if any of you find this idea appealing and want to adopt it, be my guest. Just send me a PM so I can read it too _!

Live life to the fullest,

Pencyke out!


	13. Baker's Dozen

For those who were wondering, after Kakashi found out Naruto's secret, he found the boy's stash (Conveniently located inside a storage scroll within his blood soaked weapon pouch) and reapplied the disguise, contacts and all, so as to avoid awkward questions for the time being.

* * *

The walk back to konoha was filled with one huge block of silence. They all had something on their mind, and no one even tried to brake up the tense atmosphere.

Sakura's thoughts drifted to the others on her team, they were all so secretive, even Kakashi sensei. With Kakashi it makes sense, who know's how long _he's_ been a ninja, considering the definition of the word he had to have acquired at least some secrets. But then she'd think about Sasuke and Ryuto. They'd both been genin for the same amount of time as her, they saw each other almost every day! And yet, she barely knew either of them!

Ryuto, someone who'd been through the entire academy with her, had been an orphan and she hadn't heard hide nor tail about it even once. Sure, she hadn't really talked to him on any kind of personal level, but still, back then she had been best friends with the biggest gossip of their generation! If she hadn't known such a huge detail about her teamate, what else didn't she know? The pinkette decided that if she was going to become a better ninja then she would need to know her teammates on a much deeper level.

Of course, she had already wanted to get to know Sasuke in a few senses of the phrase but the only way to do that would be for the Uchiha himself to open up to her. _"_ _So,"_ she reasoned, _"I'll just focus on the more doable one while I wait for my Sasuke to open his heart to me."_ After all, Ryuto wasn't a loner, his friends had to know something and she would get them to tell her no matter what. For teamwork!

As Sakura pumped her fist in a show of self confidence, Sasuke kept playing the battle on the bridge over and over again in his head. He'd been handling the situation just fine until that masked ninja summoned those ice mirrors. After Sakura's failed attempt at helping, he'd somehow been ripped away from the Ice ninja's dome just before it exploded. Sasuke could only assume Ryuto had at least had a hand in the destruction of the mirrors, and that infuriated him to no end. Just how advanced was his teammate? To effortlessly succeed where he'd failed, how could someone like that have failed to become a genin at all? It troubled Sasuke to no end just how much he seemed to have missed about Ryuto.

And then there was that thing he did with those substitutions, switching with other ninja was a jonin level skill that only worked if you had a ridiculous pool of chakra to draw from. Substitution normally only worked on inanimate objects that couldn't resist, that was why it was taught to the academy students, because it was easy. But when you get to actual living beings you have to anchor your chakra even while the target's chakra naturally pushes against the foreign energy. Genin shouldn't be able to do that, let alone with as much ease as Ryuto had proven to have in forcibly substituting with all of them.

Sasuke was scowling again, and it was getting on Ryuto's nerves. Would it kill the guy to smile every once and awhile? The disguised boy averted his gaze and stared up into the sky, thinking back to the bridge. That ice ninja had expended whatever dregs of chakra he'd had left freezing the place over, he was already dead for all intents and purposes. It would've been perfectly logical to leave him there until his ice melted and they could get rid of the body.

But, Ryuto couldn't leave it like that.

 _Naruto_ couldn't leave it like that.

He just couldn't leave it alone, that loneliness. The anguish on that boy's face, the expression of loss, of losing the one reason you had for living. He couldn't bare to look at it, to have it on display for all the world to see. In that moment, after extinguishing the lives of so many, he'd felt that Haku had trapped his soul in the ice as well as his body, to suffer the cold forever.

The disguised boy hoped it was warm, wherever that soul went, and that he'd still have a chance to be happy.

Huh, for some reason his cheek felt wet.

 _Thank you_ _…_

The brunette of team seven stumbled, glancing around, "Uh, did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?"

A cold breeze blew by, and to Ryuto it looked like something flashed in the distance behind his team who were now looking at him. He smiled, "Ah, it must've been nothing." The rest of Team 7 shrugged and they continued their journey back to the leaf village, the words on the wind already falling to the back of the boy's mind.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was not happy.

He didn't smile at team 7 when they entered his office, as he normally would. He didn't scowl, but the genin under Kakashi were slightly unnerved to see the Hokage's normal grandfather take a backseat to this new attitude. The man didn't speak, only staring at the jonin who was officially responsible for the whole debacle.

Kakashi began his report, completely serious, little orange book nowhere in sight. He started his tale at the beginning of their journey, each moment described in such detail and in such a way that the three genin in the room wondered how they'd been there and still missed it.

The Hokage's face remained impassive as Kakashi's tale continued, describing each of the genin's actions during the confrontations with the demon brothers, and later with Zabuza. The revelation that the mist swordsman hadn't been dead didn't seem to surprise the Hokage at all, and he made no reaction to the news of their training, or of the battle on the bridge. By this point, Hiruzen had shifted his gaze to Ryuto, his eyes unreadable. Ryuto tried not to shuffle his feet.

When the tale was done, the genin were sent home with seven days of mandatory leave.

When the door closed behind Kakashi's three students the leader of the village turned toward his paperwork with a tired sigh, absently signing off on some execution documents and reading over some other mission reports as the grey haired jonin stood in front of the Hokage's desk, arms crossed.

"That's Minato sensei's son."

Hiruzen wrote his signature on another document, this one a request for more academy funds, "You'll have to explain better than that."

Kakashi's eye narrowed, though his posture remained the same, "You told me Naruto was training in secret with Jiraya. But you lied."

The old man didn't look up from his work, grabbing another document off of the pile on his desk, "Just because I'm the Hokage doesn't mean I'm not a ninja. Lying is apart of the job." He signed off on the assassination request with methodical ease, "My authority in the village isn't an absolute power. Word of the Kyuubi had spread too fast for me to quell, and soon the entire village's misguided hated was completely directed at the boy. I couldn't see any answer to this situation besides actually sending the boy away like I told that I had." The man took a long drag from his pipe, looking aged far beyond his years. A wry chuckle escaped from him, "Imagine my surprise when I discover that the boy himself had already come up with an answer himself! I simply helped him along with what influence I have, directing their attention away from the boy as he grew up. I told them what I told you, that he was no longer within the village. Without a direct reminder of the attack all those years ago, without a convenient scapegoat to vent their frustrations on, the village as a whole was forced to deal with their loss. As well as allowing Naruto to be a child and to grow into his talents, unobstructed."

"Now the boy must face a different kind of challenge. I tell you this in confidence, Kakashi, what he needs now is to know that those close to him will accept him for who he truly is. He needs confidence in _himself_. Do you understand, Kakashi?"

The silver haired jonin nodded to his superior. That was not something he'd expected to happen when he'd thought of this confrontation. As Kakashi left Hiruzen Sarutobi's office, he could only say, "Hai, Hokage-sama."

* * *

Ryuto sat back against the closed door and let out a huge breath. He made it. He'd spent a month in disguise and no one was the wiser. He'd even excelled against the enemy ninja! But he also killed all of those people, those bandits. Ryuto took in another breath as he let the cool grain of the wood against the back of his head. After everything that happened he was glad to leave that enormous sword in the land of waves. It was safer there than in his apartment, that was for sure.

With a grunt of effort, Ryuto Shota stood up, removed his contact lenses, and began the process of removing the makeup from his skin and the dye from his hair. All the while repeating a simple phrase, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

It was a strange feeling to sit down and have a meal with her family after such a long time away. Sakura wasn't sure what it was, but everything just felt, different. The pinkette pondered the thought as she lay on her fluffy bed for the first time in what felt like forever. Dinner had been exactly the same as all the other times she'd eaten with her family. Heck, her mother and father had even gone through the same conversation about magazines that they cycle through just about every other week.

Sakura curled up on top of her blankets, staring at her assortment of stereotypical girly things. She frowned. Once upon a time that had all meant a great deal to her, but it didn't really amount to much in the face of enemy ninja who wouldn't think twice about killing her. What was the use of all of those frills and fluff if she wasn't even able to survive as a ninja?

She'd been lucky to make it back from that mission. Sakura rolled back onto her back as she pondered that thought. Civilians didn't have to worry about wether or not they'd survive their average work day. Maybe that was what was different. Maybe it was Sakura who'd changed. She'd taken her first look into the abyss and now it had it's eye on her too. Now she really was a part of the ninja world.

Sakura's hand reached out toward the ceiling as she spoke, "From this day on, I will train two- No! Three times as hard as anyone else so I won't have to be the one being saved! So that I won't drag my team, my village down!" She clenched her fist hard enough that it hurt, "This I swear."

* * *

A wave of dust billowed out of the distended couch as Sasuke plopped down, his plotting cap tightly strapped on. If he was going to fight Ryuto, then he'd need to get him alone first, no point having someone try to stop the whole thing when it really starts to get interesting. Just in case the brunette didn't outright want to fight, Sasuke would need a backup plan to get his teammate to fight. He would meditate on that later though.

Sasuke would get Ryuto to show him the extent of his power, with or without his willingness.

* * *

 _To be continued_


	14. Break time

Hey all! Happy late new year! Let's just hop right into the story.

* * *

After the Wave mission team 7 had been given some time off. "More like forced into." Ryuto grumbled as he meditated on the surface of a river.

* * *

The remedial academy student trembled in his sandals and he fought to keep from making a sound. He was hiding out in an unused classroom at the academy. He didn't try to convince himself that he'd escaped his pursuer, instead he had his escape route. The single window through which the sun lit up the dusty room. Through it he had a straight shot toward Konoha proper where he could disappear in the crowd.

It had been quiet for a while. She couldn't have given up so easily, could she? The academy student inched toward the classroom door, careful not to make a sound. He put his ear up to the door, silence. Maybe she really had left, the academy had plenty of empty rooms just like this one. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch for anyone to lose their way among the seemingly endless rooms. He cracked open the door to check if the coast really was clear. All he saw was an empty hallway. Gaining confidence that he was right and his pursuer really had given up, he was completely surprised by what happened next.

Against his will the door flew open and without thinking he turned tail to make his escape, coming face to face with the pink haired menace. He jumped back, trying to put some space between him and his opponent, but he was clotheslined from behind and his face made a high speed impact with the hard tile classroom floor. He then slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

Konohamaru trudged home after school, Ebisu was off that day and both Udon and Moegi were busy too. He didn't notice he was being followed, until the figure called out to him, "Hey, snot nosed brat!"

Konohamaru turned in surprise, that wasn't a voice he recognized. His surprise quickly morphed into anger when he realized how this stranger had addressed him, "Don't talk to me like I'm just some kid off the street! My grandpa's-!"

"Shut up and listen." The academy student shut his mouth instantly, there was a hard edge to the dark boy's words that bespoke of danger. He continued, "You claim to be that dobe's rival, don't you?" The kid tentatively nodded, "How would like to see exactly how powerful he really is? So you can know exactly what you're up against."

Konohamaru gulped.

* * *

Ryuto walked through the busy streets of Konoha, arms laden with research material that he'd use his week of mandatory leave exploring in great detail. Thank Kami for the library, Ryuto had long since run out of new material to *ahem* observe since the only ones learning anything beyond the most basic of jutsu had enough sense to keep a keen eye out or spies. He hadn't had many chances to make it into the ninja library since graduating so he was grateful for any chance to tap into the treasure trove of knowledge. The boy stopped himself before he drooled all over the front of his shirt.

"Hey, Ryuto!" One Ino Yamanaka called over the sound of the crowd, dragging her teammates behind her by the ear.

Ryuto blinked at the high-strung blonde for a moment before remembering his manners, "Uh, hey Ino." He nodded to Shikamaru and Choji. They were both rubbing their ears, Shikamaru with a faint look of displeasure, and Choji with a tiredness that said this was a regular occurrence. Turning his attention back toward Ino, he spoke, "I honestly didn't think you'd remember me. How long has it been? A few months?"

Ino clamped her hands together and tilted her head in a placating manner, her features twisting into a sickeningly sweet expression, "How could I forget you, Ryuto? You've always been super nice." Now she was twisting in what was no doubt an attempt to up her cute factor.

Ryuto shook his head, "I wouldn't say _super_ nice, just your regular old stock sort of nice. I didn't think you thought about anyone if it didn't have to do with Dusty Uchiha. How's your crush on him working out for you by the way?" Ryuto, like everyone else in their class, already knew that Ino had a huge crush on Sasuke. He wondered what her game was trying to flirt with him.

Ino smile dampened a little at the reminder of how little progress she'd made in her conquest of the Uchiha's heart. This was the first time her team had run into anyone from team seven. She adopted a shy expression, averting her eyes and rubbing her arms in an approximation of nervousness, "Well, you see, the thing is…" Ryuto raised an eyebrow, "I never really liked Sasuke, I only pretended to so I could stay popular with the other girls. I was really happy when you ended up passing with the rest of us."

"Ah," Ryuto nodded in understanding, she was fishing for how he'd become a genin when he very publicly failed the test. Then he smirked, "Yeah, I was really happy when I became a genin too. It's a pretty good story, lots of nice juicy bits of info." Ino and Choji both leaned forward in anticipation, even Shikamaru couldn't hide his interest. Without warning Ryuto spun around and walked away, calling over his shoulder, "Too bad it's a secret! Maybe one day you'll find out!"

As the rest of team 10 face faulted, Ino latched onto Ryuto's back, "Ryuto, wait! I didn't tell you everything. I wanted to stay popular by pretending to like Sasuke, but the truth is that I'm in love with you, Ryuto." A lie, "That's why I was happy that you'd passed," Another one, "I even hoped that we could've been on a team together." Just another lie in a last bit effort to pump him for information, "Please, Ryuto. Won't you tell the person who loves you from the bottom of their heart?"

Ryuto stood stock still, arms heavy with books, a purple clad preteen clinging to his back.

"Ino…" The girl looked into his face, expression lifting with the lightness of hope, "I'm sorry." Only to be marred by confusion, "You're not as good of an actor as you think you are." And then distorted by anger.

"Why you…!" Ryuto substituted away before Ino could attempt to crush him in her anger. Spotting his quickly receding form, Ino pointed and ordered, "After him! No one gets away with insulting me!"

The chase was on.

Ryuto led the trio of gennin across the rooftops of Konoha, dancing around them, weaving in and out of their grasp seemingly at will. He dropped off the library books at his home after briefly losing team 10, but he went back out to lead them on some more. He couldn't help it, toying with team 10 was way more fun than reading dusty old books.

Finally landing in an empty training ground, Ryuto turned to the wheezing genin, "Wow, you guys really haven't improved at all. What have you been doing all this time?" He pointed at the trio, the setting sun at his back, "If I were an enemy, you'd all be dead."

"Fuck off Ryuto!" Ino slammed her fist into her waiting palm. She seemed to have caught her breath, "No one knows where you live or what you do in your free time, back in the academy school was the only place anyone ever saw you, no one's head of any kind of Shota family. You failed the test, and yet now you're some ridiculously over powered gennin? It doesn't make any sense! So you're gonna tell me about yourself, or we're gonna make you." She was ready for round two.

Ryuto tried to bend his legs in preparation, but found that he couldn't.

"Shadow possession complete."

Choji sat with a thump and pulled out a bag of chips to munch on as Ino sauntered up to Ryuto, smirking in triumph, "Well, well, well. Looks like we won anyway. So, do you want the easy way? Or the hard way?" Ryuto grunted as he strained against Shikamaru's jutsu.

"I can't hold him long Ino. If you're gonna do something, now's the time."

Ino shrugged, "Oh well, hard way it is. Don't worry Ryuto, I won't go digging through anything too personal. Just enough for a 'bit of dirt on ya, 'kay?" She actually had the gall to wink cutely at the disguised boy.

Choji frowned at his teammate's back, "I don't think you should do this, Ino. He's still a fellow Konoha ninja, you could get in a lot of trouble if word of this gets to the Hokage."

"This is the only chance I'll get Choji and I'm not gonna waste it! You boys just don't get it, I'm the gossip queen! What good is that title if I don't know squat about one of my former classmates? I'm doing this Choji, don't get in my way!" Ryuto struggled even harder as she began a set of hand signs unique to her families' technique.

The rotund Akamichi charged at his teammate, "I'm sorry Ino, I can't let you endanger yourself like this!" Despite his words, even moving as fast as his big boned legs could take him, there was too much distance between him and his blonde friend. He wasn't going to make it!

"Oi! What do you brats think you're doing?" A voice echoed across the clearing, stopping both Ino and Choji in their tracks.

"Sensei!" Choji called out, relief evident on his face.

"S-s-sensei?!" Ino shook in fear, hands still clasped in the second to last hand sign of her jutsu.

"Eh? Things were just getting interesting, why'd you stop?!" Ryuto crossed his arms indignantly.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered as he released Ryuto from his shadow.

Asuma stepped out of the tree line, cigarette lit and hands in pockets, he was the picture of casual. He glanced at Ryuto, "You're that scarecrow Kakashi's brat." It wasn't a question. Ryuto just huffed in response. Asuma scratched his beard as he contemplated the boy, he'd been toying with his team that entire time. The little shit hadn't even been a little winded after the wild goose chase he'd led them on. It was pretty humiliating to have just one genin easily out maneuver an entire team of his peers that'd been official ninja for the same amount of time.

Ryuto yawned, "It's boring now, so Imma leave. Don't worry, I won't file a grievance." He smiled impishly, "After all, I wasn't gonna let anything happen." Then the boy disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Asuma looked at his team and sighed, "Looks like I haven't been working you brats hard enough if your classmate is that far ahead of you all." The jonin turned away from his groaning students in contemplation. What was Kakashi thinking, teaching any of his students how to make Shadow Clones?

* * *

Sakura huffed at the notebook sitting on the table in front of her, written inside it was everything she knew about Ryuto Shota before beginning her investigation. It was depressingly bare, having only his name, that he had no parents, and that he sometimes disappears in puffs of smoke. Looking at that page only reinforced the feeling that she barely knew either of her teammates. She turned to a new page and began writing the information she'd extracted from his academy friends.

 _1\. Ryuto always disappeared after school_

That was something that she hadn't initially noticed, but now that Sakura thought about it she realized that he did always disappear after their missions and training.

 _2\. No one knows where he lives_

Sakura decided that she'd have to look into that in the near future.

 _3\. He couldn't make a decent normal clone even if it was to save his own life_

While that was true, at some point Ryuto had picked up some other clone technique that he sometimes used. That made Sakura wonder though, why would someone as strong as Ryuto have trouble with a simple technique like the clone jutsu?

Sakura sighed, the amount of questions was multiplying.

* * *

Ryuto had left some clones to refine their water manipulation(hidden somewhere in the forests of Konoha) while he went to do… Something. Currently he was wandering through the city streets. The boy scratched his head in confusion, "Why did I come here?" He stood there in contemplation.

"Boss! You gotta come quick!" A little boy burst into Ryuto's field of vision.

"Konohamaru?" Noticing the hokage's grandson's frantic state, Ryuto sharpened his focus on the boy, "What happened?"

"Moegi's in danger, c'mon!" And then the kid was off, bounding across the roofs at high speed.

It took Ryuto a moment to catch up to the boy, "Wha-? What do you mean Moegi's in danger? How did that even happen?"

They were out of the village proper and crossing the terrain of a training ground when Konohamaru finally answered, "She's trapped in a cave."

"A cave?"

"Y-yeah, we were, um… Training! We were training together when it happened! Yeah, that's exactly how it happened!"

Ryuto raised an eyebrow, "You sure about that, tough guy?"

"Eh? Why wouldn't I be?"

Ryuto shrugged at his little friend's back, "Hey, I'm just saying', you seem a little more nervous than the situation calls for. Maybe you weren't really training with Moegi at all." Konohamaru's shoulders skyrocketed and Ryuto smirked, "Ha! You could'a just told me the truth, I only would'a given you a little bit of a lecture."

"R-really?"

"Yeah, though I can see why you didn't tell your old man about it."

"Really?!"

"Yeah man, who'd want to have to talk to the Hokage about how they got their eight-year old girlfriend trapped in a cave during your, *ahem*, _alone time_?"

Konohamaru was silent for a moment before bursting into laughter, "Yeah, Boss. Got it in one. I never could lie to you." He chuckled a bit more, but his mirth quickly died. He peered through some bushes, "It's just up ahead."

Ryuto nodded seriously, judging on how the cave entrance was blocked it could be difficult figuring out how to brake the little girl out of her prison. Not wanting to waste another precious moment, he raced past his guide in search of the blocked off cave, "Eh? Konohamaru, you did say it was just up ahead, right? How come there's no cav-?" The genin threw himself to the side just fast enough to dodge the shuriken flying at him, "Konohamaru take cover, we're under attack!"

Quickly scanning for any obvious enemies, Ryuto found someone unexpected, "Dusty? Why're you here? You know what? Never mind, I don't care. Just help me take care of whoever it is attacking us." Cowering beside his teammate was one Konohamaru, "Why're you still here? Get away, whoever this guy is could be after you!"

Sasuke smirked cruelly at his brown haired teammate, "Fight me, Ryuto."

Ryuto's face scrunched up, "What? No! What the hell, Dusty? Someone's trying to kill us and you choose now to try to spar? What's wrong with you?" He paused for a moment, "Don't answer that, I don't want to hear about your personal life." Turning his eyes back toward the darkening expanse of the woods Ryuto barely dodged the kunai that came at him. Looking back in the direction it had come from, Ryuto saw Sasuke lowering his outstretched hand.

"There is no attacker."

Ryuto's brown eyes drilled into Sasuke's form, "What?"

Sasuke smirked at the hard edge in the boy's voice, "You heard me."

"What about Moegi?"

Konohamaru spoke up from his hiding spot behind a tree, "I'm sorry Boss, he made me!"

This time Ryuto didn't take his eyes off of Sasuke, even as he addressed Konohamaru, "You lied to me?"

Sasuke crouched into a fighting stance, "You did your job kid, now get out of here." Konohamaru was gone in an instant. Sasuke smirked a little harder, "Now," He charged forward, "Fight me!"

Dodging all of his teammates strikes, Ryuto looked on in concern, "Look, Dusty, I don't know what this is all about but if all you wanted was a spar, you could've just asked me."

Sasuke growled as he willed his body to move faster, pushing chakra into his limbs just like he'd learned back in wave, "I don't want a spar where you hold yourself back just to make me feel good, I want you to fight me with your full power! Stop holding back Ryuto!"

Ryuto frowned, still dodging, "You still didn't answer my question, Dusty. Until you do I refuse to even consider fighting you at my full capacity."

Throwing a kunai to distract his opponent, Sasuke fired off a quick fire jutsu, "If you won't do it on your own, I'll just make you!"

Ryuto screamed out in pain, "Agh! It burns! Why, Dusty?! Why would you subject me to such torture?" Sasuke frowned, Ryuto couldn't've gotten caught in that simple maneuver, could he? Ryuto's screams continued as the fire dissipated, "Why would you even think to use such a two bit trick on meeeee?! It's so simple it huuuuuurts!" Sasuke grit his teeth so hard they creaked. Ryuto was completely unscathed.

Ryuto pointed at Sasuke, the setting sun at his back, "If you're gonna talk big, make sure you can back it up."

A Ryuto clone poked it's head out of a bush to the side, "I give it an eight and a half out of ten as far as cool poses go, If it were original you'd get a nine!" It dispersed before the original could direct punishment it's way.

"Heh, cheeky clone." Ryuto returned to seriousness in an instant. He didn't know what Sasuke's problem was, but he had to make sure the Uchiha got this out of his system now. Who knows what would happen if he didn't. He didn't need for his friend to be imprisoned.

* * *

Watch out for rabid Sasukes on your walk home tonight, I heard they can be lethal sometimes.

As always, please review. I don't care if it's with an account or as an anonymous reader, it's just nice to get some feedback.

Goodnight peoples.


	15. Tantrums Work!

Hey all, I ran out of number jokes so this is what I got.

Shut up and take it.

* * *

Sasuke growled as yet another of his combinations failed to so much as scratch Ryuto. It wouldn't have stung the Uchiha's pride so much if it had even looked like Ryuto was putting forth any sort of effort, but the clan-less, nameless, faceless ninja by all accounts was dancing circles around him! In anger, Sasuke hurled a giant windmill shuriken at Ryuto. As the brunette dodged to the side, Sasuke sprung on him with a diving summersault kick. Ryuto blinked once, completely ignoring the non corporeal clone and turning to stare strait at where Sasuke had hidden himself. The Uchiha tugged on a nearly translucent wire with his kunai and the windmill shuriken came soaring back around at Ryuto's blind-spot.

Without warning, Ryuto ducked under the shuriken and Sasuke became the new target for the flying chunk of metal. Sasuke leaped high over the shuriken and twisted while still keeping a grip on the ninja wire attached to the windmill shuriken. It arched through the air even faster than before as the Uchiha directed it back at Ryuto, aiming right at the base of his neck.

For a brief moment, Sasuke wondered if he had pushed too far. There was no way Ryuto could dodge such a fatal blow from his blind spot. Then, faster than Sasuke had ever seen Ryuto move before, the boy turned and snatched the giant shuriken out of the air and continued his own spin, using his momentum to rip Sasuke out of the sky toward him.

Sasuke, apprehensions completely forgotten, yanked on his own end of the ninja wire that attached him to the shuriken in Ryuto's hands, propelling him even faster toward his teammate. But even as the Uchiha pulled his arm back for a raging haymaker, Ryuto only stood there. He'd even dropped the windmill shuriken.

When Sasuke was in range he let his punch fly, watched as his muscles pulled at each other to move his arm, his fist, toward Ryuto's stupid face. Sasuke also watched as Ryuto cleanly stepped out of the way revealing just how close the ground was. Tucking into a ball, the Uchiha rolled with the impact. Sasuke silently commanded his body to quiet it's complaining, failing miserably as it screamed even louder at him about wanting better wages and threatening to go on strike.

Ryuto looked at his teammate casually, hands in pockets, shoulders back, the picture of cool and collected. He raised a brunette eyebrow, "What's wrong Dusty? You run out of steam already?" He smirked for a moment before his expression darkened, "Is dead last Ryuto too much for big bad Sasuke Uchiha?" Ryuto stepped forward and Sasuke stumbled back a step, "Well? You went to all this work to get me to fight you seriously, are you really gonna make it all for nothing?" The self proclaimed avenger didn't respond, "You can't touch me. You're so far behind you can't even _see_ my dust." Ryuto pulled his hands out of his pockets and cracked his knuckles, still speaking with a calm tone, "You made Konohamaru betray me, Sasuke. I'll get to him eventually, but you? You get yours right now." Sasuke felt a shiver down his back when Ryuto grinned at him, though it reminded the Uchiha of a snarling wild animal, "It's time for your punishment."

* * *

Konohamaru ran. He ran and he hated himself for it, for his weakness. The world blurred as tears leaked from the Hokage's grandson's eyes. Why had he gone through with that crazy guy's plan? Why hadn't he just told Boss the truth when he had the chance? His foot caught on something and he tumbled into the dirt, where he laid crying.

Why had he been so stupid? He already knew Boss was strong, but that other guy had been so scary. Who was he kidding, the veiled threats of pain couldn't compare to the weight of the Boss' wide eyes, the hurt of betrayal there for all the world to see. The little boy cried harder, "Why? Why do I always have to ruin everything?"

"Konohamaru."

The Hokage's grandson jolted, finally noticing the sandaled feet in front of his face. He jerked back in surprise and looked up, "Boss…"

Ryuto stood there, clothes unruffled and posture casual. He looked the picture of calm but his eyes were hard, harder than Konohamaru had ever seen. That look made him feel tiny, minuscule. Like he wasn't even an ant on the ground to be squished underfoot. He squirmed in his discomfort.

"You don't have my forgiveness," He'd said it so casually, like he was commenting on the weather, like it wasn't of consequence. Konohamaru fought back the latest wave of tears as Ryuto pushed off of the tree he was sitting on and set his hand on the boy's shoulder, "You have to earn that. Now come on, you're old man's probably worried."

Konohamaru kept his head bowed as Naruto walked him out of the forest and through the village.

* * *

Kakashi turned a page in his little orange book as he contemplated whether or not his genin were ready to take the chuunin exam. It was hard to tell if experiencing failure would egg them on to work harder like young Satou, or if it would break them and leave them as shells of their former selves, like beautiful Inami. They might all react differently and he would be stretched too thin trying to put them all back together and none of them would end up even moderately all right, just like poor Popura.

Then throw on top of all that the little secret of Ryuto's secret identity and you have yourself a pretty little problem. How the hell did he even stay under the radar for so long anyway? Sure, the Hokage was helping the kid from behind the scenes, but walking in front of a chunin every day for however long the academy lasted these days? And pretending to be some kind of blockhead? That took a special kind of talent that wasn't seen very often.

Kakashi flipped another page in his little orange book and glanced out of his tiny apartment window, "My cute little genin sure are troublesome."

* * *

Sasuke let out a wet cough as he slammed back first into a tree. He didn't know what was happening anymore, every time he moved to attack Ryuto hit him before he could even put force behind his movements.

But Sasuke didn't stop, he couldn't stop. The not-so dead last was finally going all out, there was no way Sasuke was gonna back out now. That being so, the Uchiha wasn't even able to try to get a hit in. Sasuke moved to push up from where he was on the ground and Ryuto was suddenly there, his silhouette bearing down on Sasuke, full of menace and the promise of pain. Ryuto's leg reared back and Sasuke thought to himself, 'This wasn't a good idea.'

When Sasuke had imagined facing Ryuto's unfettered skill, he'd seen himself struggling against it for awhile before eventually coming out on top. He hadn't in the least expected for this silent beatdown to take place. How had the gap between them become so wide?

The Uchiha's thoughts were violently interrupted when his stomach emptied its contents. He couldn't take another hit like that. He'd die. Sasuke would be a sorry corpse in the ground and his brother would get away scott free. The clan would never be avenged, it would be no more.

USasuke's world slowed down as Ryuto drew his arm back for another power shot, this time aimed at the Uchiha's face. In that moment he observed everything before his eyes, and what he saw did not match his perception of reality at all.

Where Ryuto was there was someone else, it was some other ninja wearing a genjutsu. He had hair the color of a yellow crayon and strange clan markings on his cheeks, not unlike that of the Inuzuka's and Akamichi's facial tattoos. The clothes and body type were the same, all the way down to the obvious Konoha headband on his forehead. Faced with Sasuke's newly awakened Sharingan there could be no mistake that whoever this imposter was, he certainly wasn't the Ryuto that Sasuke knew.

"W-who are you?"

Silently, the person disguised as Sasuke's teammate let his fist sail through the air and this time Sasuke was able to move his head out of the way. Sasuke tried to strike out with a counter of his own with the sudden surfacing of his family's most powerful asset. To think that the Sharingan would surface now of all times, in the presence of an enemy who may or may not have been after his precious eyes the whole time. In Sasuke's mind there was no doubt that it was a sign, that he couldn't let himself be defeated by this anomaly. His ancestors were calling for retribution!

Sure that he had the upper hand now that his eyes could see properly, Sasuke asked his question again with both a smirk and more force, "Identify yourself, who are you?!"

The only response that Sasuke got was his hair being pulled from behind and a fist to his face. And just like that, Sasuke went out like a light.

* * *

 _Shit_.

Naruto didn't know what else to think. Sasuke had succeeded in provoking him and in his anger he'd toyed with the Uchiha to the point of unlocking the Sharingan of all things! It didn't help him escape from his punishment but it opened the door to a whole slew of problems all the same.

Sasuke knew his secret. _Sasuke_ of all people knew his secret. The one guy who specifically had it out for him, of whom he'd just humiliated while taking no small amount of pleasure in the Uchiha's weakness. The extremely vengeful bastard who wouldn't think twice about lashing out at anyone and anything.

"Well I'm just screwed aren't I?" He said to no one in particular.

"Yes, you are so screwed." The clone hiding in the bushes replied.

"I was talking to myself."

"You still are."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Ryuto dispelled his clone with a swift kick to the knee, leaving him by himself with Sasuke's unconscious body. The boy pondered the question, what was he going to do?

* * *

It didn't take much prompting to get Konohamaru to cough up where the Sarutobi clan house was, and the Ryuto clone marched in silence with the kid who looked up to him.

The sky was dark and the street lights were already on, the sound of Konohamaru despondently closing the door to the Sarutobi compound gate echoing slightly on the silent street. The Ryuto clone turned toward a lamp post and crossed his arms, a frown on his face, "I'm not fond of being followed, Sakura. What do you want?"

Indeed, after a moment of stillness the pinkette stepped into the dull light from her hiding spot behind a bush. She stood there for a moment, face down turned, shoulders raised, her face shifting through a few different expressions before settling on a reluctant sort of determination. Ryuto raised an eyebrow and then she spoke, "Who are you really, Ryuto?"

It was at that moment that that Ryuto clone happened to receive the memories of the one dispelled by the original. His only physical reaction was an eye twitch but Sakura filed that tell away nonetheless, assuming it was in response to her words. The clone could've sighed, the jig was up anyways he might as well try for the some kind of insight into how Sakura found out about him. He didn't change his stance and answered nonchalantly, "What tipped you off?"

Sakura frowned in confusion, that wasn't the right response. It was more akin to the confused and defeated response of a teenager wondering how, despite all of their preparation, they were still caught with their hand fully in the cookie jar. It made no sense to the girl who'd asked in an attempt to get to know her teammate who she knew nothing about. Her mind still racing, Sakura reached for the most general response she could muster, "I thought everyone knew. I mean, isn't it obvious?"

The Ryuto clone's eyes were wide, his jaw going slack. He stared at Sakura's form as she shifted from foot to foot, trying to see what his reaction would be, but uncomprehending. Slowly, a thought began to form. It pushed it's way through the jelly of his stopped mind, unable to build any momentum but equally unable to let itself go on unheard.

It finally reached it's destination after a full 60 seconds of struggling and it delivered it's message and the Ryuto clone blinked as the thought took hold. Sakura herself had been becoming increasingly nervous at the boy's lack of response but without any idea of what was going on had remained silent for the entire time.

Without another word the clone exploded in a cloud of smoke leaving a confused Sakura alone with her thoughts.

* * *

When Kakashi was met with an unnerving silence the morning he called Team Seven together to give them their chuunin exam application forms, he decided to skip the speech he had planned and just handed his genin the papers. Sasuke looked furious, Ryuto looked both depressed and puzzled, and Sakura just looked lost.

Kakashi found himself sympathizing with the girl.

* * *

So there it was, I'll cover more of how Sasuke was delt with using the most well known story teller tool know to Naruto fans, with a flashback.

Won't it be fun?


	16. Oh boy, FLASHBACKS!

Everyone thank Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf for how quick this chapter came out. That's the power of asking nicely.

* * *

As Sakura sat alone in her bedroom with her chuunin exam application paper, she contemplated the happenings of the day before.

* * *

 _Sakura was becoming increasingly frustrated with the genuine lack of information on her teammate, it was like the universe was actively trying to hide information about him. In her initial investigation into her teammate she had been so excited that she'd gone out and bought a map of Konoha in preparation for the loads of thumbtacks and string she was going to put up on her wall, just like in those old detective movies she liked so much._

 _Now as she stared at the thing taking up most of her bedroom wall, almost a full week later, the map seemed to personally insult her with it's complete lack of both thumbtacks and string. The air in her bedroom had become so stifling to the girl that she opened her window and jumped down to the ground one story below, despite the late hour._

 _As Sakura was absently stalking down the streets of Konoha, wondering up at the night sky, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked, it was the very teammate that had been occupying so many of her thoughts as of late accompanied by some academy kid. Neither of them spoke and there was an air of tension between them that made the kunoichi wonder what was going on. She followed at a distance, keeping to the shadows as best she could, though it reminded her that there was more to improving her skill as a ninja than just knowing her teammates, a whole lot more._

 _That thought brought her to a stop mid-stride, was all of that effort put into trying to figure out the mystery of her teammate just one big waste of time? Sakura had to admit to herself that she could have been training during the past week just as easily as she had spent her time prying into her teammate's private life, she could've had an easier time of it._

 _Sakura tried to justify herself with the reasoning that she had to know her team intimately in order to properly contribute to the whole, but her mind easily supplied that she wouldn't be able to contribute to the team no matter how intimately she new it if she didn't know anything beyond the basics they had all learned back in the academy._ _So she decided to resolve this issue once and for all, as soon as she got an opportunity to speak to Ryuto alone._

 _She followed the strange duo through the heart of the village and into the expansive clan district. It was called a district because all of the clans were all housed next to each other in one huge clump taking up most of the space in Konoha proper. Sakura had never had much reason to go into the clan district, Sasuke didn't live there and when she used to hang out with Ino she usually preferred to stay home_

 _Were Ryuto and that kid a part of some minor clan together? Sakura couldn't quite tell with all the shadows but their hair seemed kinda similar._

 _They finally stopped in front of a fairly humble clan compound where the kid sent Ryuto the most miserable kicked puppy look Sakura had ever seen. Somehow her teammate was able to maintain his stoic look and the kid huffed. He turned and dragged his feet toward the simple wooden gate as Ryuto looked on, not moving from his spot. Finally, the gate closed and Ryuto was left standing alone in front of it._

 _He turned toward the lamp post Sakura was hiding behind just as she was about to move in on him, "I'm not fond of being followed, Sakura. What do you want?"_

 _Sakura didn't know how to respond to that. Ryuto hadn't looked back during that entire walk, there was no way that he could've known it had been her following him. Except that he did. Sakura almost lost her nerve right then, almost shrank deeper into the shadow concealing her. The only thing that stopped her was a stray thought from her rebellious mind._

 _If not now, then when?_

 _Was she so weak that she wouldn't even follow through with her own decisions? Sakura refused to accept such a thing, and in a moment of determination she boldly stepped into the light to face Ryuto head on._

 _She was suddenly faced with the reality that she had no idea what to say._

* * *

Sakura let herself fall back on her bed, holding her chuunin exam application paper high above her head, "What am I going to do?"

* * *

Elsewhere in Konoha, Sasuke sat at his small dining room table. He'd already filled out his own application paper, keeping it safely tucked in his equipment pouch. But instead of meditating on how many opportunities he was going to get to fight strong guys, he couldn't get his mind off of his teammate.

Something wasn't right about him, he was hiding something.

As Sasuke sat in silence, he contemplated the happenings of the last two days.

Ever since their genin test against Kakashi, Sasuke had wanted to fight Ryuto, to test his power now that he'd seemingly decided to show his true skills. Back then it was on the Uchiha's to do list but there hadn't been any kind of urgency and he was content with their spars during team training.

Then they had their first C rank and a number of things became apparent. Ryuto was far more skilled than Sasuke had thought possible, first showing that he was skilled enough to take out Zabuza with, Sasuke shuddered at the memory, _a certain technique_ , which was more than Sasuke could boast of himself. It's effectiveness couldn't be denied but that didn't make it any less gross. The second was that Ryuto was enough of a master at the tree walking exercise to effectively teach Sasuke and Sakura where Kakashi didn't. The third, and most outrageous in Sasuke's opinion, was how Ryuto had been able to systematically take apart both that fake hunter nin and that small bandit army by himself.

At the time Sasuke had been glad for the save, but in hindsight it had only served to show him just how pronounced the gap between their power was. It made him realize that Ryuto had been babying him the entire time, he was probably some undercover ANBU or something assigned as a secret guard for him. It hurt Sasuke's pride that Konoha thought so little of his ability to defend himself, and that pain quickly turned into anger. He'd been angry enough to force a child to lead Ryuto into a trap, to attack him with the intent to seriously maim.

Sasuke had wanted to end the deception by forcing Ryuto to reveal the true extent of his skills, and it hadn't gone at all the way he'd planned. In his own blind rage Sasuke had forgotten the glaringly obvious point that Ryuto was easily a head and shoulders above him as a ninja and that oversight had latched onto his throat and pulled with all of it's might.

That little stunt had earned Sasuke the most intense and humiliating experience of his life.

Without attacking at all, Ryuto had been kicking his ass. Despite all of Sasuke's best efforts, Ryuto had been in complete control of the entire situation and when his teammate finally did go on the offensive it had been all the more humiliating for Sasuke when he'd found himself as a helpless rag doll in the face of it.

The last thing Sasuke remembered of the night before was how he somehow activated his sharingan, then nothing.

Sasuke weaved his fingers together and sat back in his brooding chair, seeking to sink into the depths of its soft leather folds.

What should he do?

* * *

Ryuto laid on the hardwood floor of his little apartment and stared at the bland white ceiling, alone with the memories of his clones.

They were all so jumbled up from the multiple locations and overlapping perspectives, it was taking longer than usual to soak in the information.

The boy closed his eyes and focused on the rise and fall of his own chest as he defragmented the sounds, sights, and sensations.

* * *

 _Ryuto focused intensely on his internal energies, carefully mixing the cocktail that was what the ninja world referred to as chakra. Then he reached out his hand and extended the energy from his fingertips toward the softly murmuring stream. Directly underneath his hand, the water of the stream bubbled and slowly rose into the air. With a light *plomp* the water separated from the stream and Ryuto held it in the palm of his hand as a ball the size of his fist._

 _Stretching far beyond the limits of simple sight, Ryuto's shadow clones stood side by side each messing around with their own orbs of water. Some stretched theirs into spears, others flattened their water into disks, and others still tried for whatever shapes they could come up with._

 _Suddenly, he got an idea. What would happen if he tried to explode it at the enemy?_

* * *

 _Ryuto stood atop of a wide river across from another of himself. They both wore looks of determination as they stared each other down._ _On the shore of the river sat a small panel of three Ryuto clones watched intently, each with a pen and paper. Each poised for taking notes._

 _Another clone stood slightly up the river, looking between the two facing each other down. After he received a nod from both of them he lifted his hand before bringing it down in a quick chopping motion, "Begin!"_

 _Immediately, the water between the two facing each other sprang to life, crashing against itself, rising high into the air as it kept pushing from both sides. Suddenly, the force from one side stopped and the geyser leered over the clone, forming a cruel mat of needles as it descended through the air._

 _Before it could reach it's intended target, though, the water lost it's form and splashed harmlessly on the clone. Across from it, Ryuto stood shocked. He stared down at the spear of water sticking out of the front of his chest._

* * *

 _Ryuto stared harshly at Sakura, his teammate. She had been following him as he escorted the Hokage's grandson back home safely and he'd called her out._

 _"Who are you really, Ryuto?"_

 _The panic that statement evoked was about that of a cute little bunny who'd been slathered in BBQ sauce and then thrown to a pack of starving dogs. Then he received the spattering of sounds and images that let him know that freaking_ Sasuke _knew the Ryuto's biggest secret and had all the reason to expose him. Ryuto had to exert the entirety of his willpower to refrain from_ _screaming profanity at the world. He had to deal with this calmly, professionally._ _Oh, who was he kidding? There was no reason for Sakura to say those words besides the discovery of his secret identity._ _He resigned himself to defeat and decided that if life as he knew it was going to change forever, he might as well ask about it._

 _"What tipped you off?"_

 _Sakura frowned, "I thought everyone knew. I mean, isn't it obvious?"_

 _It took a moment for the meaning of those words to soak into Ryuto's mind. She said every one. She thought it was obvious. Everyone knew. Everyone? But his disguise had been perfect. There was no sign that anyone had discovered._

 _Until today._

 _It was obvious to Sakura, therefore it was obvious to everyone. But then, the village… Tricked him?_

 _Was it possible? It wasn't, it couldn't be! Or could it?_

 _The hokage knew, and he could tell whoever he wanted whenever he wanted. He could've told the whole village, but order them not to say they knew._

 _All of those happy morning smiles suddenly seemed like cruel smirks at a dumb animal who knew nothing but the inside of it's tiny box._

 _Everyone knew, but no one would say._

 _It was obvious._

 _Slowly, a thought began to form. It pushed it's way through the jelly of his stopped mind, unable to build any momentum but equally unable to let itself go on unheard._

 _The boss needs to know_

* * *

Ryuto stared at his apartment ceiling, feeling very tired despite having laid there for the better part of an hour. He wondered what to do.

* * *

In the end he decided to pretend nothing had changed and see what happens.

Ryuto took a deep breath as he scanned the many genin teams. He'd decided to forgoe his morning marathon of training on that particular morning, he had to focus on not freaking out when anyone looked in his direction.

So he showed up extra early, and took note of everyone coming in for the first test. He memorized their clothes, their walks, their weapons, and to an extent their interactions and attitudes.

He was also looking to make sure he wasn't blindsided by his teammates' arrival. Better to have the extra time to mentally prepare himself than to walk in blind.

Alot of the Konoha genin Ryuto had already spied on at some point so he focused on the foreign ninja. This was definitely an opportunity for Ryuto to pirate a few more techniques as long as he was subtle about it.

He just needed to keep an eye out.

Then a heavy hand slammed onto his shoulder, "Hey, Ryu-bue!"

"Ah! I'm so sorry Kiba. Are you alright?"

As Kiba stared at the sky in a daze, Ryuto blinked and then the moment registered in his mind. Kiba's hand hit his shoulder, Ryuto's foot hit Kiba's shin at the same time as he rotated his body, simultaneously moving Kiba's arm out of the way as bringing a knife hand to the Inuzuka's throat, knocking him over.

Out of the crowd stepped another old classmate of Ryuto's, "I must ask that you refrain from doing that to my teammate again, Ryuto. Why am I not more upset? Because I know that was a reflexive accident." That was how Shino normally spoke, in one long monotone. He continued, "Insects are particularly prone to the same sort of reaction, always ready to strike." He looked at his recovering teammate and adjusted his dark glasses, "We will meet you inside."

Ryuto looked on dejectedly as team eight shuffled away with Kiba leaning on his teammates, rubbing his throat.

He hadn't meant to put Kiba down like that, but without his aforementioned morning marathon of training he was amped to a level of energy far beyond what was considered safe.

Ryuto sighed and turned to continue observing the crowd, immediately noticing the pink hair wading through the crowd.

It was gonna be a long day.

* * *

Just wanted to say, I started this for myself but now I do it for you guys.

Peace.


	17. Smoke signals

Hello everyone

It's time for a new chapter

Wha'chall think o' tha'?

* * *

A lump formed in Sakura's throat as she spotted Ryuto hanging out at the edge of the crowd. In the end, she had decided to try to explain her line of thinking to her teammate, but the words eluded her. Still, she had to say something, had to establish where she stood in the confusing vortex of team seven. Otherwise she would be swallowed whole by the awkwardness.

Sakura looked up, determined to speak her mind, "Ryuto-"

"You know when Sasuke's gonna show?" Ryuto's eyes were on the passing chuunin hopefuls, "If he doesn't hurry we'll have to go without him."

Sakura blinked as her mind tried to switch subjects without losing her original train of thought, "Wha-?"

"Speak of the devil, here he comes." Ryuto stood from his perch leaning on the wall and gestured for Sakura to follow him, "C'mon, we'll meet up with him." He spoke as if she could be anyone, as if she didn't matter.

As the pinkette followed her teammate through the press of bodies she tried to assert her words over the surrounding noise, "Look, I just-"

"Sasuke, let's go in now that we're all here."

"Hmph"

Sakura stared at the back of Ryuto's head for a moment. Was he interrupting her on purpose? She took a deep breath and continued to follow. It was too soon to be sure.

* * *

The sea of genin parted before Team Seven as they passed on their way to the third floor. Conversations died as they approached, and no one made eye contact. They passed by the genjutsu on the second floor without a word and arrived at the entrance to room 301 without incident.

Then Kakashi appeared before them, "I'm glad you all..." Even Kakashi seemed to be affected by the trio's aura of gloom, "Showed up. Uh, go in, and, uh... Yeah, teamwork." He took their application forms and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Then Team Seven entered the room beyond.

The place was filled to the brim with genin teams all huddled together. All eyes in the room moved onto Ryuto, Sasuke, and Sakura before immediately diverting to look at something else.

Ryuto suppressed the urge to scream. It seemed like everyone in the exam knew about him. They were planning something, he just knew it. But what if that was the part of the plan, what if they knew that he knew and they had already planned for it? Still he would do everything in his power to avoid whatever plan they had for him. He would show them, he would show them all!

* * *

"Ino."

"Hiiiii!" Ino's scream echoed through the room as she tried to calm her heart. Then she looked at Sakura, "You look terrible."

Sakura frowned, "I'm not here to bicker with you, Ino."

Ino shook her head with concern, "I don't even mean it like an insult. Did you sleep at all last night? You look sick. And what's wrong with your team, it's like someone died or something. Even Sasuke isn't looking so cool."

Sakura sighed, "Ino,you were always better with people. I need some advice."

"Now wait just a minute." Ino smirked and put her hands on her hips, "Just because you look ready to keel over doesn't mean that I'm gonna let you have Sasuke all to yourself, Forehead."

"Ino..." Sakura pinched her nose, "You know what? Forget it, I'll figure it out on my own." Then she turned around and marched back to her depressing team.

Ino heard a sigh from one of her teammates, "What a drag,"

"Oh shut up Shikamaru, it's none of your business."

"Hm, I guess not." He shrugged, "It's too much of a drag anyway."

* * *

Peripherally, Sasuke noticed Sakura's presence return and he grunted at her out of habit. He was too concerned with his own inner thoughts to do anything else. What had happened after he awakened his sharingan and how to do it again.

He'd been trying all morning with little success beyond giving himself a headache and drying out his eyes. It was more infuriating to know that he had the Sharingan but couldn't figure out how to use it than to not have it at all. And then there were the thoughts that awakening his sharingan hadn't made him any stronger, that he was just the last crippled fragment of a deceased clan. After all, Ryuto had knocked him out with a single move despite his active sharingan.

Sasuke was quick to crush those thoughts under the weight of his desire for revenge, but the doubt was still there.

* * *

Ryuto stood silently with his back to the wall, arms crossed in an attempt to project as much coolness as possible. Some older genin was showing off his cards to the other rookies and Ryuto totally ignored them. They could be talking about anything, like how nice the weather was for mocking him behind his back. Or they could be discussing how each of those cards had one of his secrets written on it and how they were planning to distribute them to all of the foreign competitors.

When the guy with the cards was attacked by a team from another village, the proctors appeared and then Ryuto turned away from his thoughts with relief.

Then, after all the participants were seated, the head proctor gave a speech that boiled down to, 'This is a written test, _don't_ _cheat_.'

The test began and Ryuto flipped over the paper. He read the first question and balked, was he the only one with impossibly difficult questions? Judging by the others' reactions, he wasn't. Supposedly, he could wait for the tenth question and take whatever they gave him. In another life Ryuto might've hedged his bets on that, but he was convinced that the village was secretly plotting his demise while cackling loudly behind closed doors. Instead, for the first time in his life, he was going to actually try on a written test.

* * *

To Sasuke, it was obvious that the true nature of the test was to measure their information gathering skills. The next step to ask the question, what information gathering skills did he have? Sure, Sasuke'd excelled in every part of the academy's curriculum but that kind of espionage was only doable when you could interact with people, exactly how this test was designed to stop that from happening. Instead they had to steal the answers without moving from their seats.

As an Uchiha, he'd relentlessly practiced his wire techniques, but that was geared toward a combat scenario where the you only needed enough subtlety to get past your opponent's guard.

Sasuke smirked, perhaps he could use that. He was careful to maintain the idle movements of one who was thinking as he flexed his chakra and reached out with it. Carefully, he coaxed a line of chakra conductive ninja wire out of his equipment pouch.

Using his chakra Sasuke was able to guide the wire across the floor unnoticed, but it was slow going. This was his first time doing anything like this, and Sasuke was focused intensely on keeping his chakra under control.

"Number 69, you're disqualified!"

Sasuke and the rest of the genin nearly jumped ten feet up. The genin in question, a rain ninja, actually stood up, "What? That's unfair, I wasn't doing anything!"

Ibiki just smirked with his gruesome face, "Too bad. Numbers 4 and 20, you're disqualified alongside your teammate." With loud protests, the team was escorted out.

When Sasuke's heart finally stopped trying to break through his ribs, he reached out with his chakra and reanimated his wire with determination.

* * *

Now that the first team had been eliminated, it was like a dam had broken, they were dropping out like flies. One guy sitting directly behind Sakura had been eliminated, and she nearly panicked when she'd thought it was her who was getting kicked out.

At one point a guy's chair actually exploded while he was sitting on it. When he'd been carted off for medical treatment and his teammates disqualified, his test had been conspicuously missing.

* * *

When the time had finally come for the tenth question to be presented about a third of the teams had been dismissed. Among those teams who'd survived thus far, team seven was right there sweating with the rest of them.

When proposed with the dilemma of either taking the question and possibly staying as a genin forever or voluntarily dropping out for another chance in six months, there was a brief uproar from the remaining genin but it was quickly silenced by the proctor's next words, "I don't care who you are or what village you come from, if you can't answer this question then you're unfit to be a ninja!"

Ryuto nearly growled in irritation. He had no doubt that he'd be stopped from ever taking the exams again. It seemed like just the thing such a two faced village would do to bottleneck one of their own who they secretly hated. Still, even if he backed off now there was nothing keeping the village from stopping his advancement anyway. Ultimately, every village decided for themselves who would be a chuunin and who wouldn't.

* * *

Sakura held back a scoff. She'd answered all of their questions so far, there was no way she would back off now. Not when she had something to prove. She needed to see where she stacked up next to the other genin, so she could decide where to go with her own training. She wouldn't be useless anymore.

* * *

Sasuke discreetly peered over at Sakura. She seemed surprisingly sturdy in the face of the tenth question, so he turned his attention to his other teammate and the Uchiha was again surprised at what he saw. Ryuto was visibly sweating, and the occasional twitch that coursed through his body did not invoke confidence in Sasuke. Ryuto's mouth was moving but he didn't seem to be signaling anyone. Instead, the words he shaped looked to be a silent chant to boost self confidence.

Sasuke frowned, why was Ryuto suddenly on the verge of a heart attack? There was no way the test was shaking him that much. Heck, _Sakura_ looked more confident than Ryuto. This wasn't normal. Something was very wrong.

Suddenly Sasuke wasn't feeling so confident about his chances in the exams. The proctor had been clear that they had to pass as a team, which meant that it was completely possible that if any of them missed the tenth question they'd all be stuck as genin forever. Ryuto didn't look confident at all, would it be better if Sasuke pulled out now for a chance next time? Sasuke's hand twitched. What was the right decision? Did he take the risk on his apparently panicking teammate who he didn't get along with at all, or did he go for the 'live to fight another day' approach?

Ryuto's head turned, and his eyes locked onto Sasuke's. It was a look that threatened bodily injury and spoke of a fury that could easily destroy him. In that look, Sasuke caught a glimpse of insanity bubbling deep underneath the surface. It was that look that had jolted Sasuke out of his thoughts and he belatedly realized that his hand was raised in the air. Everyone was staring at him, but he kept his eyes on Ryuto.

"I am going to make it all the way to the end, and I am going to win this whole thing. If you get in my way, I'll make you regret it." Sasuke pointed at his teammate among the participants in the front of the room, "There's nothing you can do to stop me!" Then he slammed his raised hand on the table and sat back down with a scowl.

* * *

No one else quit after Sasuke's speech.

As it turned out, the question of whether or not to take the last question was the true test. Gathering information had been secondary all along, and everyone left in the room went on to take the second exam.

After the genin had all filed out of the room, the proctor was picking up the tests for later reviewing when he something caught his attention. One of the tests was completely wrong. Every single question had been answered, but with an approach that landed at the wrong conclusion every time. He glanced at the desk number, the test belonged to that kid with all that makeup.

Ibiki grinned.

* * *

And that's a wrap! Next chapter's gonna be the second exam with the forest of death and all that. What do you guys think? Where you scared when Sasuke's hand was up? Will this team 7 make it to the end? Will Sakura's change in attitude be enough for her to actually beat Ino?

Only time (and updates) will tell. See ya!


End file.
